Sailor Moon: Descendants of a Lost Throne
by HaloLinna-Tobygirl Inc
Summary: A thousand years into the future and all nine planets are inhabited, run by their own governments. 10 people are drawn together by fate, descendants of the legendary senshi, to stand once more & reestablish the kingdom. All characters are OC. Reviews ok.
1. Chapter 1

**One  
Toga! Toga!**

****"Oi! Dara-ko, let's go already! Daylight's burnin', eh?"

"I'm coming, don't get your sheets wrapped in a knot!" the blue-haired young woman smirked at the rather large gentleman that waited impatiently at the door of her apartment building. He was one of several gentlmen, mostly her classmates from University, who waited to make the sober trek across campus to what the residents called 'Drunk Lane', a long street just on the outskirts of Chennai where the fraternity and sorority houses stood.

Thousands of years have passed in the history of Madres, the great sprawling university of Chennai that had become one of Earth's largest and most renown schools of thought and knowledge. Social and political elites from all over the solar system sent their offspring to learn at one of the Ivy League Earth schools, with Madres being second only to the First School of Athens University. It was still hard to compete with Madres' sprawling gardens and ocean town that called to everyone.

But there was always one thing that stood against the ages of time. The time honored tradition that brought all walks of life together in a raucous display of student life. From the shy nerd to the over-achiever, the jock, the artist, and the bro. It was the Toga, and what college expierence is complete without a toga party?

Even the daughter of the Dean could not resist it's call.

Udara adjusted the fake fig-leaf wreath that sat just so in her long cerulean hair. Her toga cut off knee-length with a sash of wine colred fabric for accent and a gold chord wrapped around her middle. Usually she was a conservative India native. Her deep tanned skin, not quite brown, contrasted sharply against the white of her sheet-made toga. The impatient man whistled to earn him a warning look.

"Do not attempt to win back any brownie points," she warned shaking a finger in his face even though he stood a good head or more over her. Corsten Vaugn Fenlin was a rugby player, a member of the Kappa fraternity and a very good friend she met through Philosophy 101. Much like her he was a 2nd year student, though she had lived at the University and Chennai all her life. Corsten was from Jupiter. "The beer is not going anywhere, you will not miss it!"

"Shows how much you know," he said looking down at his watch. "Come on, we still have to meet the Meiyahimas. Siino, let's go!"

Another boy, Corsten's best friend, popped out from around the hedge and slung an arm around her shoulders. Sega Sinno did not go to school, though he was a local and frequent sight around the campus with Cor. "Hey Princess, glad you could make it!"

Udara narrowed her eyes at him and began the trek to meet up with the others of their party. "Don't call me that!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Two  
****A Challenge is Issued**

Ruo had thought his days of dressing like his twin were behind him. But here he was standing in the middle of an unfamiliar house with a blue and white striped sheet draped over his body to make a toga-like garment. Since they had used the sheets from their beds, Ruo and his twin, Ryonosuke, were wearing the same thing. And since Ryonosuke had proclaimed himself a toga expert, they were draped in nearly the exact same way. Ruo was thankful that now that they were considerably older it was easier to tell them apart. Both of them shared the standard traits of Neptunians: about 6 feet each with fair skin and almond shaped eyes. Ryonsouke's eyes were a scarlet red and Ruo's were crimson in color. Red eyes such as theirs weren't uncommon for people who resided on the outer planets, but they weren't something necessarily seen every day. They both had dark midnight blue hair. Ruo's was cut short and stood spiky in the back, while the front pieces were kept at chin length. Ryonsouke's front pieces were kept chin length as well, but the rest of it was longer, reaching the middle of his back. He had grown it out just as the two of them had based basic training as though he were attempting to test their superior officer's tolerance of him. Both of them shared the same athletic body type, each of them build like swimmers as most Neptunian's were. The reality was if not for their hair and the slight subtle difference in the shading of their eyes, Ruo and Ryonosuke were the spitting image of each other, especially at that moment since they were once again dressed the same way.

Ruo had lost track of his brother shortly after they'd entered the house. Ryonosuke was a celebrity at parties. Everyone knew him and he knew everyone. Names rolled out of his mouth without any effort. Even if he had only met the person once before, he was quick to come up with their name. He never faked his friendliness and was always genuine. This was why everyone seemed to gravitate towards him and how he almost always ensured himself a piece of the spotlight, if not the whole thing.

Ruo didn't go to parties like Ryonosuke did and he did not have a mind for names.

Both of the Meiyahima brothers were attending Madres on scholarships and grants under Amphi's Education Act. It was an act that had only been passed a few years ago under pressure from Sol's Interplanetary Coalition. The idea behind it, as far as the Coalition was concerned, was to expose young Neptunians to a broader education and hopefully ideas and concepts that will make the war at home seem futile. However, it was very hard to be granted the ability to actually use the Act to go to school off-world. And once the grant had been issued, it good be equally as difficult to keep it. If Ruo or Ryonosuke even flirted with anything lower than a passing grade, they would be on the first jump ship back home. While that didn't seem to phase Ryonosuke one bit, it gave Ruo great reason to be worried.

Of course Ryonosuke was able to keep his grades high and he excelled in his training and he didn't even look as though he was trying. He could attend parties like this every day of the week, still ace his tests, and still be able to run the obstacle course without batting an eye. Ruo had no idea how he did it.

He stood off to the side of the front room, a large red party cup in his hand. He was only on his second beer. A couple of students he shared classes with had stopped and made small talk with him, but he hadn't struck up any real interesting conversations yet and he was getting bored. He turned to go looking for his twin and nearly walked right into him.

"There you are!" Ryonosuke grinned at him broadly. His scarlet eyes were dancing in that mischievous way Ruo had learned was bad news when they were both in diapers. "C'mone," he had one of his arms slung around Ruo's shoulders and was steering him out of the room, "There's some people I wantcha to meet."

"Where are we going?"

Ryonosuke didn't answer him as he weaved them through the pulsating crowd of semi and full blown drunken revelers. He didn't give up their course until they had reached the kitchen where a few of the beer kegs were being kept. Around one of them was a small group of people. One of them was a large hulking red-haired man that looked as though he could break any one of the others - Ruo and his twin included - over his knee. Next to him was a much smaller young man with two different colored eyes and tattoos all over his arms. A girl stood with them as well, she had long blue hair and light cherry colored eyes.

"Fenlin!" Ryonosuke called as he approached the group, his arm still around his brother's shoulders as if he was afraid Ruo would run off on him. "Siino! Look I found'im! We can play!"

"Play?" Ruo raised a brow.

"Ahh, so this is the infamous twin brother, eh?" The red-haired young man eyed Ruo carefully, as though he had been skeptical of Ryonosuke's claims and was judging for himself if the two were in fact twins.

"Yup," Ryonosuke nodded his head. Strands of his long blue tinted black hair falling over his eyes. "This is Ruo."

"Infamous?" Ruo glanced at Ryonosuke.

Ryonosuke only smirked at him sheepishly with a shrug.

"Nice t' meetcha, Meiyahima 2," the boy with the tattoos stuck his hand out with a smirk. Ruo could see he too had several piercings as well in both his ears and face. "Sega Siino."

"Corsten Fenlin," the larger boy did the same.

Ruo shook each of their hands and he had barely let go of Corsten's when Ryonosuke had his arm slung around Ruo's neck again. "Hey, Oru," he said casually. "I bet Cor here that you could out drink Udara." He pointed with his cup towards the light blue haired girl who hadn't yet introduced herself.

"What?" Ruo blinked.

"He says she can out drink you," Ryonosuke went on, "I stuck up for you and said that you could not only match her drink for drink, but you'd drink her under the table."

"Why would you say that?" Ruo looked at his twin horrified.

"C'mone," Ryonosuke egged, "It'll be an easy $50!"

"Aye, easy," Sega was smirking.

"Well..." Ruo glanced at the girl. She was smiling at him sweetly. The next thing he knew there was a fresh party cup in his hands and Udara was already downing the one given to her. Ruo glanced at his twin again.

Ryonosuke nodded at him encouragingly. Ruo sighed defeated and downed his first round.


	3. Chapter 3

**Three  
****A Solder Meets A Scholar**

****_"Come on, what a pick-up line that'll be eh? Who wouldn't want a chick that could drink'em under?"_

She hadn't agreed to the drinking match, she had been left with no choice in the matter. When Corsten's big mouth had gotten the better of him, and the bet had been made, Udara looked at both him and Ryonosuke in a horrified fashion yet unable to stop the issued challenge. When Ryonosuke had sped off in search of his twin Sega slunk an arm around her shoulders and smiled.

"Don't worry princess," he chuckled. "If he's Ryo's twin I doubt you'll have any problems. We've seen you keep well ahead of Meiyahima before."

"Yes but I had paced myself each time," she pointed out looking up at him. Long ago she had gotten used to seeing mismatched pool looking back at her and it no longer surprised her every time she peered into his face. "And Ryo had practically dove face first into the alcohol. I had also made sure to eat something before I came. It was luck and caution that had given me my crown that night. Which, I might add, I wasn't even looking for."

Corsten patted her head and handed her the first of many red plastic cups. "Did you eat before we got you?"

"Don't I always?" she asked taking it in her carefully and painstakingly henna'd hands. Her skin had the dark scroll-work almost all over her body, as was traditional. Her ankles had it chained and wound up the back of her calves, it was visible up her arms with larger pieces seen on her back, over her shoulder blades and along the exposed parts of her spine under her toga. There was even a small bit around the blue bindi set carefully upon her forehead. This was part of the reason Corsten, Sega, Ryo and a few others in Kappa called her _Princess_, she looked like a traditional Hindu maiden.

Now she was on her second cup and couldn't stop smiling at the boy before her who she was supposed to be in competition with. He looked like Ryonosuke, yes that was true, but at the same time he didn't. Ruo was more... intense. Especially in his eyes, she liked the depth of his eyes, like there was so much more behind them. "I'm Udara," she said bowing to him careful not to spill her beer. "Udara Dunia. Nice to-"

Ruo's eyes went slightly more then wide. "Dunia?" he almost choked on his drink. That name was incredibly, and frighteningly, familiar to him. "As in Dr. Maso Dunia... the _dean_? Of Madres? _Here_?"

"That's right," Ryo smiled patting Udara on the head proudly. "You're matched against the Daughter of Madres herself! Now how many people can say that, hmm? That's bragging rights! A drinking contest against the dean's daughter!"

Corsten frowned at the older twin and shook his head. "Don't tell'em shit like that, Ryo. You're gonna make him lose his nerve. Dara be just another student, and a regular here at Kappa so don't get your shorts in a knot. Just because she one of the top students and all..."

"Would you guys cut it out?" the girl asked licking a small foam of head from her lip under furrowed brows. "I'm going to change my name and wear a wig around campus so people stop freaking out every time you introduce me to someone." A large rumbling burp escaped the cherry lips causing a hand to immediately cover her mouth, breaking the seriousness of her scolding. Soft pink eyes went wide in horror before she laughed loudly and accused Corsten of pouring her beer "like shit".

And then the shout went up...

"I got shots!"

The group looked up to see another young man, nearly the size of Corsten, carrying a tray of little cups their way. He had longer shaggy dirty blond hair streaked with pure sun-lightened toe-blond and wore a leather chord around his neck with a small silver medallion, a St. Christopher's coin that looked older then Madres. He seemed to know Corsten, Sega and Udara very well, and gave a familiar nod to Ryonosuke as if it was not the first time he had encountered the man.

"This is Radik Novacek," Corsten introduced to the new-comer Ruo, and refreshed Ryo's memory. "He's part of Kappa, VP actually, and plays Rugby with us."

"I'm from the Mediterranean," he accent gave away for him without him needing to explain. "I study Philosophy, makes great pick up lines."

Ryo looked horribly interested very suddenly. "Ooo... do tell..."

Ruo rolled his eyes and finished the last of his beer only to catch Udara trying to inconspicuously study him from behind her cup through her long blue bangs. She seemed horribly interested in him. Why that was was beyond him... especially from the Dean's daughter! Ugh, he was going to kill his twin later...


	4. Chapter 4

**Four  
Sludge**

"How many are we at?" Corsten asked lighting a cigarette. His head was a little to the side as he took in the forest of red cups, shot glasses and beer bottles that littered the dirty wooden table they stood around outside on the dirty little porch while the party milled about in the house, through the house, and around the house..

"8?" Sega suggested, though he had lost count almost as soon as the contest had started. He also was matching the competitors drink for drink. "Or maybe 9?"

"How ya feelin', Princess?" Radik asked Udara.

Udara turned half lidded eyes his direction. A silly little smile was on her face under her flushed cheeks. She looked as though she was feeling right fine. "_What_ have I told you about calling me _that?_" She demanded as she prodded him drunkenly in the chest.

"Gotta admit, Cor, she's pretty gud," Ryonosuke said. Then his face pulled into a wide and proud smile, "But she'll never win!"

Ruo set down the empty beer bottle among the other empties on the table. He had matched Udara for every drink she had chosen whether it had been shot or beer. His cheeks were flushed but that was the only indication that he was buzzed at all. He waited for her to choose their next drink.

"You can't never win against a Neptunian!" Ryonosuke hefted his beer into the air, "We're race of sailors! No one can drink like a sailor!"

"C'mone, Dara," Corsten urged in a low voice, "Pick something that'll put this guy under the table, would you? I can't afford to lose $50 to Meiyahima in a drinking game. Look at him." He paused and nodded in the direction of the man to illustrate his point. "Do you know how embarrassing that'd be?"

"Hmm," Udara placed a finger to her chin as she surveyed what they had already consumed. Then an idea suddenly hit her and she was reaching for Sega's arm, "Did'ya bring your flask, Sega?"

"Huh?" Sega raised his arms to keep her from spilling his own drink, "Aye. 'Course I did."

"Oh, that's fucking perfect!" Corsten beamed, "That stuff'll melt his face off!"

"Eh?" Ryonosuke blinked, "Whaddya talking 'bout?"

"Sega's has his own special brew," Radik explained, "we call it sludge."

Ryonosuke hiced a reverse burp and nodded his head, "Ooooh yeah. Y'know, I heard rumor you had a special stash or somethin', Siino." He watched as Sega produced the flask from his back pocket. "I wanna try it!"

"This will put ya down, Meiyahima," Sega warned.

"It's for me anyway, Ryo!" Udara told him as she snatched the flask from Sega before he could unscrew the top.

"I just wanna taste it an' see if it lives up to the hype." Ryonosuke grabbed the flask.

"Wait yer turn, Fishboy!" Udara grabbed it back.

"Fishboy!" Ryonosuke frowned and grabbed it back. He held the flask up over Udara's head as she whined and reached for it again. Quickly he took a sharp pull from the flask and then handed it to her. He grinned at her victoriously, "ha!"

Udara humpfed at him and puffed her lower lip out in a pout. Then she also took a pull. Almost immediately after she made a face. It wasn't her first time trying it. But the taste was never something she would get used to and it always surprised her.

"Not for the weak hearted." Ryonosuke nodded his head, "Nope. Tastes like battery acid an' lime. Your never gonna sell that shit, Siino."

"Good," Sega answered as he took his flask back from Udara easily, "I ain't lookin' too." A strange grin came over his lips as he saw the color drain from both of their faces. "What were ye sayin' 'bout bein' a race o' sailors, Meiyahima?"

"Fuck you," Ryonosuke retorted miserably. Without another word he left the group so he wouldn't vomit on anyone's feet.

Udara swayed a little bit before Ruo reached up to take her arm and sit her gently down next to him on the cooler. She leaned against him heavily, resting her head on his shoulder. She hic-upped, burped and giggled. The giggle was soon followed by a groan.

"Maybe you should have some water, Dunia-sama," Ruo suggested. He looked at her a little concerned. Maybe they had taken this contest a bit far.

"I'm fine," Udara said, but she didn't pick herself up off his side, "but I think I may sit here for a little bit. Just give me a moment… I got this…"

"Her father's gonna kill us," Radik chuckled pulling a cigarette for himself from Corsten's pack on the little wooden table and lighting it. "Absolutely flippin' kill us."

A moment later Ryonosuke returned. He had two glasses of water, one of which he handed to Udara. The smell of spearmint masked the smell of vomit, but he looked far better than he had when he'd left the group. Udara took the glass with both of her hands and sipped it slowly. She gave him an appreciative smile, then looked up at Ruo and giggled again.

"Kay, Ru." Ruo looked up from Udara to see Sega was handing him the flask. "Yer turn," the young man told him.

"Don't make'im drink that!" Ryonosuke protested.

"'e has t'." Sega answered, "Ye said 'e could match'er drink fer drink. She drinks, 'e drinks. Those be the rules." He handed the flask to Ruo.

"But..." Ryonosuke looked at his twin, "Oru, you don' hafta drink that, ok?"

"C'mone, Meiyahima," Corsten urged, "Show us whatcha got."

"You don' hafta show these assholes anythin', Oru," Ryonosuke argued.

Ruo looked at the flask for a moment before he dislodged his arm from Udara's grasp and reached to take it. Then while the others watched he knocked it back and took a considerably longer pull than either Udara or Ryonosuke.

The group fell instantly silent. Each of them was staring at the younger twin in shock as he wiped his mouth with the back of his wrist and then handed the flask back to Sega. "That was...hot," Udara murmured in awe.

"That was fuckin' hard core!" Corsten exclaimed, "I couldn' take a pull like that when I first drank it! Zeus be damned, boyo!"

Sega wasn't nearly as impressed. "Lets jus' see 'ow it sits," he said before he took his own pull. He used the back of his wrist to wipe his mouth and then eyed the younger twin with scrutiny.

"Oru?" Ryonosuke was leaning towards Ruo carefully. He reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You ok?"

Ruo didn't answer. He sat still. Udara had wrapped both of her arms around his again. She was looking up at him carefully, watching his crimson colored eyes. "Ruo-kun," she said softly. Everyone else was watching him waiting for him to either puke or pass out. Instead he burped and licked his lips. "Lime battery acid. Hai." He nodded his head, "That's about right."

Now Sega was impressed, "Well, Meiyahima 2," he stated as he screwed the top of his flask back on, "Looks like yer provin' whatcher brother's been tellin' us. Neptunians are drinkers. Even if Ryo's a fucking lightweight."

"Hey, fuck you, Siino."


	5. Chapter 5

**Five.  
Call It A Draw**

"Are you alright, Dunia-sama?"

Cherry pink eyes blinked and strained to focus as the body exerted what felt like far too much effort into sitting upright. Udara hadn't even realized that she had made herself comfortable curled up on Ruo's arm as she rode out the epic drunk that washed over her after a pull of Sega's "sludge".

Liquid distilled death was more like it. Why she let herself do these things was beyond her.

A slender finger was shoved into the Neptunian's face while lips pulled into a sly, hazy smile. "Don't call me that," she commanded. "I am not a professor, I am not my father, I'm not even staff. Udara is fine."

Ruo blinked, slightly taken aback by her forwardness. She was the dean's daughter, and a year ahead of him! It was only right for him to call her by the correct honorific title! "But... ah well that is-"

"No," she said again poking him on the nose. "Bad Ruo-kun! No honorifics for you!" Then she sighed, releasing his arm and rubbing her face gently so she wouldn't smear her make-up all over her eyes. "Seriously though... do you know how long it took me to break Radik and Cor of it? Please... pretty please, just call me Udara. Or Dara. Or Dar, or any other shortened version of my name that is anything but proper."

"If that is what you wish," he nodded to the girl who retook her position of clinging to his arm.

"What I really wish is that I didn't let Corsten talk me into this drinking contest," she confessed leaning over to whisper in his ear. "I think sometimes he gets a little carried away with me."

"You think?"

Udara giggled musically. Then she turned her cherry eyes back to him and smiled. "You wanna call it a draw?" she offered. "I know Ryo-kun might get a little bent out of shape over it but... honestly I'd rather not get so drunk that I need to ask you to take me home in a wheelbarrow. You're _far_ too cute for me to mortally embarrass myself before you at the first party like that. I would rather remember the night, not wake up wondering why I'm wrapped in a sheet."

_...cute...?_

"HEEEEEEEEEYYY DARA-KO!" A large and heavy hand fell upon the slender, uncovered shoulder of the scholar with such force the girl did fall into the young man who sat beside her. Corsten was beaming down at them and held up two plastic cups which he had grabbed by the lips. "Another round, eh?"

"Corsten... I can't drink like that after Sega's crap, you know that," she said sighing. "How about something lighter? And I don't mean the pong beer!"

The large Jupitarian college student eyed her. "You want fruity. He's going to be able to keep up too well if you go that route. And I dunno if we got the fixin' for daiquiris babe."

"I think we'll live."

"We gotta' band!" Radik was jogging through the crowd in the front of the house announcing at the top of his lungs. "Bring the booze, music in the back!"

"Let's go!" Corsten cried and took off.

Udara pushed herself up and took a moment to stand steady. Another drink of water and she'd be good. "Come on," she said turning around and grabbing Ruo by his wrist. "You heard them, I don't know how they got it but music in the back!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Six.  
A Dance**

By the time Ruo and Udara had made their way outside to the back yard, Sega had already been invited to sit in with the band by their lead guitarist Ian, a second year who lived at Kappa. Apparently their singer had gone MIA and Sega, it had been decided, was as good a replacement as any.

He was better then good, as it turned out. He looked right at home there in front of the band singing his heart out. The repertoire ranged including everything from old drinking songs to cover of newer rock hits. It didn't matter what they decided to play, Sega kept up tempo with them easily and looking as though he was doing something he was born to do.

"Show off," Ryonosuke muttered with his arms folded.

"There's no reason to be jealous," Ruo stated next to him. "You could still be playing the piano."

"There aren't mobs of horny girls waiting around to be groupies for piano players, Oru," Ryonosuke rebutted. He took a pull off the new water bottle he had snagged before coming out back. He turned his eyes towards his twin and the girl with him. A smirk started to play with his mouth as he looked at them. Udara wasn't hanging off of Ruo, but she was leaning against him in a very familiar sort of way. She had one of her arms around his waist and had her head against his shoulder. She was watching the band with a hooded look to her eye, almost as if she were half asleep. Ryonosuke wondered how much of this she would remember come Monday morning. It would be just as fun to tease her with no memory as it would be with even a little. But he did hope she would remember. Ruo would, surely, and he certainly didn't look as though having Udara standing this close to him was bothering him in the slightest.

"Yo!" Corsten's voice called up from somewhere in the yard, "play somethin' decent! Somethin' t' dance to, eh, Sega! Somethin' _Irish!_"

"Shut yer pie hole, Cor!" Sega shouted back to him over the mic. Then he looked over his shoulder at the other band members who shrugged back at him. Sega nodded and turned back around as the drummer knocked off the beat. The group slammed off into their own take on an old Irish drinking song. It was updated by the use of electric guitars and Sega's on unique take on the lyrics. Corsten wasted no time in getting a circle started, grabbing whoever was nearby to join in.

"Oh!" Udara picked her head up off of Ruo's shoulder as though a new wind had suddenly inflated her sails. "Let's dance with them, Ruo-kun."

Ruo wasn't so sure that was a good idea. He wasn't buzzing as hard as Udara was, but he wasn't sure if bouncing around was really going to mix well with the liquor already in their bellies. He looked at her uncertain, "Maybe you should have some more water first."

"Don't be silly," Udara insisted. She stepped away from his side and then turned to grasp his hand tightly in hers. She quickly pulled both of them towards the circle and inserted herself and Ruo among them between Corsten and another young girl from the party.

It wasn't long until practically the entire yard had been pulled into Corsten's folk dance. People from inside the house had even come out to join so that there were three circles, one inside the other, in the middle of the yard dancing (sort of) in a traditional way. Some were tripping over themselves and laughing as their feet decided to make up their own steps. Corsten, Radik and Udara of course knew the steps. It was hard to be friendly with Corsten and not know. Even Ruo and Ryonosuke were able to keep up. In fact, they made the steps look simple. It surprised Corsten who flashed Ryonosuke a wide grin when the two passed each other in line.

The song concluded and the three circles dissolved into applause and laughter. Many flopped down onto the grass and others returned to the house. Sega and the makeshift band kept the Irish theme going as they slipped into a cover of Flogging Molly's "Sorrow No More", which seemed to please the remaining crowd to no end. A small roar of approval came up from the grass.

"Hey, not bad, you two," Corsten panted as he reunited with the Meiyahimas and Udara.

"The fact that we know how to dance surprises you?" Ryonosuke answered a bit breathlessly. He was leaning over with his hands on his knees catching his breath.

"Dance isn't the first thing I think of when I think of soldiers, Meiyahima," Corsten pointed out.

"Ahh, and there is your folly, my drunken friend," Ryonosuke pointed out as he straightened again. "When every morning could bring your end of days, there is a great need to live in every moment you get. Eh, Oru?" He had his arm around his brother's neck again.

Ruo gave a sheepish sort of smile and nodded at the others, "It's true."

"And _therefore, _as I've been tryin' t' tell my twin here," Ryo gave the arm around Ruo a sort of rueful and teasing shake, "that is why I take every opportunity I can to make sure I live my life here to the fullest! There is no telling when we could be called back home."

"What?" Udara blinked, "What do you mean by that, Ryo-kun? I thought you said your tour of duty was over."

"_Technically_ it is," Ryonosuke answered carefully. "I mean our required 4 year service term is up. But that really doesn't mean much. Even with our grant, if they decide back home that the war's taken a turn for the worse, they can-and will-summons us back at the drop of a hat. Could be today. Could be three weeks from now. But if they call, we have to go."

"That's awful!" Udara exclaimed looking horrified.

"Do you even know what it is you're fighting over?" Radik asked raising a brow, "I mean, this war's gone on forever, hasn't it? I don't mean to sound ignorant but does anyone remember exactly what started it all?"

"It comes down to water rights," Ruo answered carefully, "Whoever controls the water and the fishing controls the planet's commerce."

"You're fighting over fish?" Corsten stared.

"Its not quite that simple," Ruo sighed carefully. "Five generations ago the prince of Tortuga was assassinated. Tortuga pinned the blame on Amphi, arrested and then put to death one of the royal court who was visiting Tortuga at the time without a fair trial, or involving Amphian authorities."

"Wow..." Corsten stated. "Yeah that'll do it."

Udara had sat down suddenly, the color draining from her face. Ruo glanced at her, his brows furrowed, "Are you ok?" He asked, "I told you we shouldn't dance after drinking so much."

Udara gave him a sort of kind smile, though it didn't reach her frightened eyes at all. "I'm fine, Ruo-kun," she answered him, "but no more talk about war, alright?"

"Hai!" Ryonosuke pipped up. He had two more water bottles which he thrust into the hands of his brother and Udara. "This is a party, dammit! No one wants to talk of that depressing shit while trying to get nice and plastered!"

"You aren't gonna get plastered on water, Meiyahima," Corsten snorted.

"Shut up," Ryonosuke glared at him.

"Hey," Udara blinked suddenly, "what happened to the music?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Seven.  
****Mood Killer**

No sooner had the question left her lips then was Corsten scrambling to the stage. Radik, Ryonosuke and Ruo looked on with curious wonder at the boy who stood up there before the mic, breathing shallow and hard while his eyes were locked on some unknown far away object. Udara put a hand to her lips and whispered a soft, "Oh dear..."

"Oh dear what?" Ryonosuke asked snapping his head around to look at the blue-crowned scholar who stood watching beside his brother. "What the fuck is that?"

"Is it a seizure or something?" Ruo asked.

Udara shook her head slowly. She had seen it happen before, but Corsten never fully explained why it happened or what it was. "I don't know," she admitted, "But it's not a seizure. It happens sometimes, and Sega-kun will just stand there as if he's watching something intently. Sometimes they are really severe episodes... other times it's as if he walked past a tv and stopped to watch an interesting commercial. Then he's back to his old self like nothing ever happened. Corsten won't tell me what it is, but he insists that he's fine... I tried to take him to a doctor once and he damn near shoved me out of Kappa house for the mere suggestion! But Sega never seems to be like, sick, or hurt or anything so… I mean Corsten and Sega have known each other since they were like kids. So if Corsten says he's alright I leave it alone."

Radik nodded, he too had been witness to such an event but only at a distance. "Cor usually takes care of him... like walks it off or something. Craziest shit I've ever seen."

"Well... if that isn't a fucking mood killer I dunno what is," Ryo huffed crossing his arms across his chest. He was satisfied by Radik and Udara's encounters to dub the situation non-life threatening and therefore should not effect his partying. But the band was in just as much shock as everyone else at the public display of Sega's 'seizure' even with Corsten nearly dragging him off-stage to ride the episode out away from the eyes of curious on-lookers. "Now what?"

Radik shrugged. "We try to drink as much booze as possible and pass out in the house before someone freaks out about this and calls the cops."

"I think I'll pass," Udara said smartly with a small yawn. "I feel as if I have had quite enough and would rather pass out in my own bed. And on that note, I will stumble my behind home-"

"Corsten was supposed to walk you home, Dara," Radik pointed out quickly. "You're not making that walk by yourself."

The scholar put her hands on her hips and eyed him. "Radik, I have walked these streets by myself for years! And every single one of you is too drunk to do much else but find a bathroom... even then you'll be lucky to make it to bed instead of curling up in the tub."

The blond rose a brow, she had a point. He certainly wasn't going to be able to make the trek across town and back to Kappa that night. But what she failed to notice was they weren't _all_ drunk. "Meiyahima 2 isn't toasted. Ruo, can you be a gent take her home? I don't think Cor's gonna be back any time soon and on the random off-chance that -anything- happens to Madres' Princess the old man will have our souls!"

"Don't _call me that!_"

*****

Corsten was watching his friend closely, it was a pretty intense zone out but not the worst he had seen.

"What do you see?" he asked in a whisper. Honestly he never really expected Sega to tell him, but every now and then the boy could throw out bits and pieces of his visions in short almost monosyllabic answers. "What's coming to ya, holmes?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Eight.  
Damage Control**

"Meiyahima 2?" Ruo repeated what Radik had called him. His dark brows had furrowed together. He wasn't sure how much he liked that.

"He'd be honored to walk Princess Dunia home!" Ryonosuke nodded his head. He gave his younger twin a careful nudge forward with his elbow.

Ruo stumbled forward and shot a glare over his shoulder at Ryonosuke. But he turned back towards Udara and gave her a small smile. "I can walk you home, Dunia-Sempai. If that's alright?"

Udara returned the smile and much to Ruo's surprise didn't protest the escort at all. "That would be nice, Ruo-kun, thank you." Then she turned and poked a finger into Ryonosuke's shoulder, "don't start calling me princess too, Ryo-kun," she warned him. Ryonosuke only gave her a playful smirk that made his scarlet eyes dance a little. Udara sighed. It was a battle she was never going to win. "Are you two coming?"

"Nah, we'll hang out here for a while," Radik had leaned an elbow against Ryonosuke's shoulder. "Have a couple 'a more drinks. Play damage control for Cor. Maybe get some tail. Eh, Meiyahima, hows that sound?"

"Perfect."

"No benders," Ruo cautioned his brother. He knew the warning would fall on deaf ears. Ever since coming to Madres, Ryonosuke took ever chance he had to get drunk. There were plenty nights he didn't return back to their dorm until almost dawn. But at least he always came back, Ruo took heart in that much. He started walking with Udara around the house towards the street.

Ryonosuke watched them go, stretching his arms over his head and yawning a bit. "Whaddya think, Radik?"

"About what?" Radik glanced towards him.

"Them," Ryo nodded the direction Ruo and Udara had gone in.

Radik raised a brow and shrugged, "dunno."

"She seemed like she was into him, right?" Ryonosuke lowered his arms from behind his head, "I mean they looked pretty cozy there for a while, yeah?"

"I guess so." Radik shrugged. He was eying Ryonosuke strangely, "Whats with you? Playing matchmaker or something? You never care this much."

"Or something," Ryonosuke answered with a cryptic smile. Then he turned and clapped Radik on the shoulder, "Beer," he stated. Then, "We should find Corsten and Sega too, make sure the little shit is still breathing."

~~~(*~~~~

"Thank you for walking with me, Ruo," Udara stated. They had gone only about half a block. Her hands were clasped in front of her as they went, her eyes straight ahead following the path the street lamps provided them. "You really didn't have to," she amended, "I am perfectly capable of walking myself."

"I'm sure you are," Ruo answered her evenly. "But on party nights like this, you never know what could happen out here."

Udara blinked. She hadn't thought of that. Chennai had been her home, and the university, since she had been old enough to walk. She never really considered any sort of danger lurking in the streets in the dark. It was like thinking that merely walking through the hallways in her home would hide madmen and burglars. "Oh," she answered before glancing up at him and then back towards the road. She smiled a little bit, "I am glad that it's you walking me home, Ruo."

"Huh?" Ruo blinked and looked at her.

She was looking up at him again, smiling a very happy-still-more-than-slightly-drunk smile. He found himself smiling back at her and wondering if she was going to make it to her apartment or if he'd have to end up carrying her part of the way.

Her smile faltered a little bit as if a rather unpleasant thought had entered her head and was refusing to leave. She looked away from him and was silent a moment or so as they walked. When she spoke again, her voice was very pensive, "What you said earlier about Neptune, is it true? Could you and Ryonosuke really be summoned away at any time? Would you really have to go?"

"Yeah," he answered her. "I wouldn't be happy about it."

"Good," Udara answered quickly. Her face flushed a little when he glanced at her. "I mean, I can't imagine a sane individual _wanting _to go back to war."

"Some would disagree with you, Dunia-Sempai," Ruo shrugged. "To serve one's home land is a great honor. I should be happy, thrilled even, if they decided to re-enlist me into the navy."

"It wouldn't be fair," Udara argued. "You and Ryonosuke came here to go to school. It would be only a tease if you were unable to finish."

Ruo shrugged his shoulders, but he didn't answer her. His expression had turned sour. His brows had furrowed and his face had set into hard lines. He didn't want to go back to Neptune, summoned back into service or not. Even after he had finished school on Earth, he couldn't think of one thing on his home planet that he would drop everything to go back to. Certainly not the war that had taken so much from him already. It was unpatriotic to think in such a way, but Ruo couldn't help it. After seeing what he had seen, both in battle and here on Earth, it was impossible not to have that mentality.

"We're almost there, Ruo-kun," Udara told him gently. As if she were sensing his ill ease, she reached out to take his hand, "Thank you again."

~~~(*~~~

A knocking came to the door and Corsten threw a glare at it. "Leave off!" He shouted through it to whoever was on the other side. People had seen Sega trance-out before, but never to this magnitude. It had always been just one or two people at a time. Udara. Radik. The other guys at Kappa house had grown accustomed to it and had stopped pestering Corsten about what was wrong with the stray he had taken in.

Interestingly enough, despite knowing what was happening, and knowing that Sega would be fine once he came out of it, Corsten hadn't grown accustomed to it. Not at all. It wasn't the trance-out that nerved him, but what would happened _after _wards. Not all of Sega's visions came true, but a great many of them did. Everything from lost games to natural disasters. Butterflies always sat at the top of his stomach whenever he waited to see if whatever it was Sega saw came true or not.

"Fenlin?" Someone else was knocking again.

Corsten grunted and got to his feet. He jerked open the door just enough to peek out at Ethan Comse, a tow-headed 3rd year student who was an officer of the frat next door. He blinked a couple of times. Shit, this really must have freaked people out to get the attention of the neighboring frat brothers.

"What's going on?" Ethan asked. "Someone told me something weird happened with a friend of yours? Like he had a stroke or a seizure or something."

It wasn't Corsten's place to tell people about Sega's visions. Sega didn't want to be considered a freak. And he didn't want people flocking to him asking for their fortunes to be told. He wasn't a psychic, he kept telling Corsten. Visions weren't something he had any control over. So whenever something like this happened, Corsten was always somewhat at a loss for what to tell people when they asked.

"Seizure, yeah..." he nodded.

"Shit, is he ok?" Ethan asked looking pale at the idea someone could possibly die at one of their parties, "Should I call an ambulance or-"

"No, no," Corsten shook his head quickly, " 's ok, Ethan. He'll be fine. He just needs to relax for a little while, that's all. No need to call anyone, ok?"

"But if it's a seizure-"

"It's not really that big of a deal," Corsten assured him, "Jackass just forgot to take his meds. He'll be fine. When he wakes up I'll take him home."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," Corsten was edging back into the room and slowly closing the door.

"Let me know if you need anything," Ethan didn't look 100% convinced, but wasn't about to argue with Corsten either.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks." Corsten quickly closed the door again and made his way back to his friend. He had sat Sega down on the floor with his back against a recliner.

"Sega?" He gently reached out to hit the side of his face gently in an effort to wake him up. Any trance-out that lasted longer than 5 minutes was cause for alarm.

"Meds, huh?" Slowly Sega raised his multicolored eyes towards him.

Corsten looked a little sheepish, but was relieved. "Whatcha see?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Nine.  
****Weird**

Ruo's look had turned dark, and Udara was still far too drunk to let their good buzz be killed my too many sobering, somber thoughts. Especially thoughts about war, death, and a silly little squabble over fishing rights on a planet that was 90% water! The whole idea was ridiculous... and terrifying. She didn't want to see either of the brothers be called away in the midst of their time at school! It wasn't right, or fair, or just... or just _right!_

"You're not going anywhere," she said matter-of-factly, swinging their arms back and forth in an exaggerated fashion. "So don't start looking all upset and miserable."

Ruo let her take his hand and swing his arm, though he did raise a curious eyebrow at her very confident words. "I'm not? And how do you suppose that, Dunia-sempai?"

"Because," she started, "You and Ryo-kun are far too smart to be in any silly war. What a waste of time and effort that would be! I can think of plenty of better things for you two to be doing with your time and effort outside of fighting some war over something as stupid as fish! And they'll have a hard time getting you to fight if I break your arms for calling me sempai... I thought I told you to stop that?"

"Sorry..." he muttered slightly embarrassed to have been called out so directly by her. If he wasn't careful he might actually upset her... and that certainly was not his plans.

"Besides... it would be an awful waste, hmm? For you two to go that is. Ryo seems fairly popular and settled here. Kappa loves him, he gets along well with everyone... he's a nice guy."

"That's Ryo," Ruo nodded. For whatever reason it almost... _almost_ bothered him to hear these complements pouring out of her mouth for his twin. Ryonosuke was always the popular one, always could just call attention to himself by walking into a room. People just... clicked with him so easy, he was just naturally easy going, chatty, funny and charming. It was difficult at best for Ruo to be that comfortable anywhere, and so he was usually following his twin about, watching silently as he was introduced to one person or another. "He always has been."

Udara stopped swinging their arms and staggered a little. It took a moment to regain her balance, and took the steadying of holding tightly to Ruo's arm for help. Red rushed into her cheeks, which was only made worse by the massive amount of alcohol that was infiltrating and taking over her blood stream. Ruo might not have been as chatty as Ryonosuke or Corsten, but there was certainly something charming about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Udara might be a regular around Kappa, but it was easy for her to do as she had early on asserted herself and her disinterest in any of the guys there.

For whatever reason, though, Ruo's quiet nature and deep eyes certainly peaked her interest.

"See? It would be a shame for him to go, because then who would distract the other girls while I try to run off with you?"

*****

"Well? We got lotto numbers or not?"

"It doesn't work that way and you know it," Sega sighed pushing himself up into a sitting position carefully. The images were still fairly fresh in his head, like a developing picture that wasn't quite complete yet. Sometimes his visions faded before he could really put them together, other times they stayed as clear as day. This was one of those slightly fuzzy ones that didn't completely make a whole lot of sense, and he would have to puzzle it out bit by bit if he could.

"Well?" Corsten asked growing anxious. "Can you hold onto it?"

Sega nodded carefully. "Kinda... I saw 10 silhouettes... I think ye be one of them. It be kinda hard to miss someone the size ye be. I feel like I might know somma' the others but... I cannae put me finger on 'em. The sky be dark, cloudy... like there be a hurricane or something coming." He frowned now and rubbed his eyes, forcing himself to grab onto as many details as he could. "You and seven others be standing 'round two specific people... like 'ey be important even though the whole fuckin' city be in ruins. The whole place... just torn up an' no one was around except for you guys. Fires were ragin'... the whole nine! And there ye all are, just chillin' there like ye waitin' on these two to do something... a dude and a chick, that I can tell ye certain."

Corsten was studying him carefully. In all his years of hearing his predictions never had anything so wild come out of his mouth. He was almost ready to attribute it to the liquor, but he had made drunken predictions before without anything like this coming up! "Were they familiar, these important characters?"

The boy shrugged. "Couldn't fucking pull'em out of a crowd, mate. Maybe iffin' I see 'em it'll hit me, but I couldn't promise you for sure. Dude... I need some water or something man..."

Cor nodded and threw out a hand to help him up. "Let's get you fixed up and you can stay here tonight. That's the weirdest shit I ever heard come out yer mouth and I ain't be too convinced I wanna leave ye alone tonight."

"Awww, yer so cute when ye fret over me."


	10. Chapter 10

**Ten.  
Good Night**

His first instinct was to stop walking and stare at her as if he hadn't heard her correctly. Maybe it was the booze simply talking and making her say things she wouldn't ordinarily. Making her be silly. Of course, that was it. He quickly kept moving, his toes tripping a little bit on the pavement.

Thinking he was a bit drunker than he let on, Udara only giggled into one of her palms. She had such a sweetness about her. Not innocent so much as just sweet. There was far more to her than met the eye. If she was hanging around Corsten Fenlin and Ryonosuke Meiyahima, there had to be an adventurous side to her. But as they walked along the sidewalk towards her apartment building with her giggling almost uncontrollably into her hand, Ruo couldn't imagine her any other way.

She was still holding on to his hand. Her palm felt warm and soft against his slightly calloused one. As they passed under one of the street lamps, Ruo found himself hoping they never would reach her apartment after all, and they could just continue to walk like this in the cool night air for the rest of eternity.

Of course, foolish wishes like that always found their ends to come much too quick. Before he knew it Udara had announced that they had reached her building. As they came to a stop in front of it, Ruo felt his heart sinking slightly. It sank even lower when she let go of his hand to unlock the front door that lead to the stairs.

"I should see you all the way up," Ruo told her as Udara fumbled with her keys for a moment. "Make sure you actually make it in."

"Thank you, Ruo-kun," Udara smiled up at him, her cheeks flushed. Finally she got the key in the lock to turn and she opened the door. She led him through the small dimly lit hallway to the stairs and led him up to her apartment. She fumbled again with the lock, "Would you like to come in?" she asked, "I feel bad simply turning you away at my door to walk back alone after coming all this way."

"I wouldn't want to put you out," Ruo answered her as he watched her fumble.

"Don't be silly," Udara kept smiling at him, "You'll come in and have some tea. We'll chat for a little bit."

"I couldn't," Ruo hated turning her down. But the poor girl looked so sleepy. She couldn't even get her key to work. Finally, Ruo gently took the key ring from her and with much smarter hands attempted to get her deadbolt to turn.

"Oh," Udara pouted a bit. She stepped back and tucked her blue locks behind her ears. "But we'll do this again, right? Like you and me, out somewhere?"

"Sure, if you'd like," Ruo nodded. Why did this girl have so many keys?

"I would!" Udara exclaimed. Then hushed her voice and looked about sheepishly. She leaned closer to him, "Maybe later this week?"

Ruo blinked. He didn't expect her to invite him out so soon. "Uh...ok."

"There's a new museum exhibit I would like to check out," Udara told him. "I could never get Corsten or Sega to go and I would much rather go with someone other than my father for a change." She looked at him hopefully, "I know it probably sounds terribly dull but I can get in to all the good stuff for free and-"

"I'll go," Ruo glanced at her. He felt the lock finally give to the key he had selected and her door clicked open.

Udara's cherry eyes lit up instantly, "Oh, you will? Ruo, thank you!" She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him for all she was worth.

Ruo was taken completely off guard. He stumbled back a step or so with Udara hanging off him. He didn't know what to do. She was drunk and probably had no idea what she was doing. Or perhaps it was possible she was just this friendly with everyone. He didn't know if he should hug her back or try to shake her off him. Thankfully she let go before the moment became too awkward. She seemed to be blushing as she peered up at him through her bangs. "I should go in now," she told him almost looking shy now. Carefully she stepped inside her apartment, then turned to peer at him, "Thank you for walking me home, Ruo."

Ruo nodded, "Sure... any time."

She smiled and winked at him, "I hope that means you'll be coming out more often then."

"We'll see."

There was a moment or so of awkward silence between them as if both of them felt something more should be said, but couldn't think of anything proper to fill the space.

"Good night, Dunia-sempai," Ruo finally said when the moment became ridiculous. He bowed a little.

"Please, call me Udara," she nodded. "Good night, Ruo-kun." She watched as he turned and left the apartment, keeping her cherry eyes on his midnight blue hair until he had gone down the stairs and was gone from view. Then with a wistful sigh, she closed her apartment door with a soft click and locked it for the night, pursing her lips together for a moment in contemplation, and regret, before turning to prepare for bed.


	11. Chapter 11

**Eleven.  
****The First Search**

"Is that them, Marcus-sama?"

A dark figure hidden against the nearly moonless sky watched a young man escort a young woman home, weaving trough the criss-cross laid streets of Chennai. Midnight pools watched them carefully while beside this dark figure sat a smaller figure, certainly that of a young woman with large pigtails and a sailor-type uniform on. "What did I tell you about proper names?"

"Oh," the young girl gasped with a small giggle, clapping both her hands to her mouth. "Sorry! I forgot! Is that them _Pluto-sama_?"

Satisfied with her correction he nodded and went back to watching, as if from his perch on the rooftop above he was somehow protecting the two strangers. "Yes, Mercury, that is them. She was not hard to find, a predominant figure around here. But he... he I suspected to be a little more difficult then he was. I should be surprised that they have found each other before we did but... fate weaves how fate will. It is hard to resist its calling. The pull between these two must be incredibly strong..."

"Weee!" ,came an excited squeal that was almost too loud to be safe. It made the darkly dressed man jump, causing him to almost lose the great key-like staff he held on to. If it had slipped from his fingers only to fall to the streets below with a great noise would have been a disaster. That would have surely given their positions away, in the very least. "That is sooooooo cute! To think, love reborn? Ugh, it's soooo romantic! Like a fairy tale!"

"Yes... just like," the man called 'Pluto' grumbled pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Mercury... do you _know_ the meaning of quiet?"

The girl, Mercury, stood up easily upon the slanted roof and huffed. "Hmph! I find this exciting! Can we go talk to them? I totally wanna be the one that tells her! How do you think she'll react? I think she'll be excited! Like, _totally_ excited! Don't you think?"

"I'm fairly certain she'll have a fair idea of the myths already," he answered her dryly. "It is her major... don't you pay attention to anything?" Pluto stopped himself before he could get into a real argument with her and sighed. "We're only supposed to find them, not wake them yet. Alright? Let's go keep looking, that's two down, we have several more to go before we can go waking up the neighborhood."

"Ok!" Mercury cried and bounced her way up the roof ahead of him. This was so awesome to her, being one of the first! Especially with Mar... Pluto-sama! He was so smart... she loved these little searches they did late at night, sneaking around all cool like! It made her feel like something out of a movie, or a story. And here she thought her time at the prep-school was going to be super boring. Now she was glad her parents decided to ditch her there! Best adventure money could by, for sure! "Come on, Pluto-sama!"

Pluto looked back to see the pair making their way into a large apartment building. She was giggling, her voice could tickle his ear like a music box... that was her alright. No mistaking it, nature almost swelled around her, as if the plants themselves leaned towards her just to be nearer. Drawing them to her, that's what she did... like she had drawn him, and now the true bonds would begin to form, stitch together and take shape like it was a living thing between them. Was it not? Was it not the natural course of fate working its magic around those two, through those two just by sharing each others presence?

"This is only the beginning," he whispered to the man walking the woman towards the building. "Keep her near, and safe my friend."

"_Pluto!_"

Eyes rolled. "Chronos grant me strength..."


	12. Chapter 12

**Twelve.  
****The Lady Mercedes**

The planet of Venus had not had a ruling class in centuries. This did not mean that the planet was a democracy. Far from it. Venus was, after all, the perfect capitalist society ruled entirely by the might of commerce. And Hector Della Robea owned 90% of those businesses making the Della Robea family the most powerful on Venus and the closest thing to a ruler the planet had.

His only daughter, Mercedes, stood to inherit her father's empire and had been groomed to do so from a very, very young age. The day when she would step up to start taking control of certain aspects to Della Robea Industries was growing nearer and nearer as she came closer and closer to graduating Madres University. She already wore many hats. She already had certain subsidiaries answering to her directly. She was the lady of the Della Robea home, often entertaining guests with her father, as well as when her father was unable to do so. She was also a student studying the fine arts of business, politics and anything else her father thought would aide her in her future as CEO of an entire planet.

It was 4 am and the clock at her bedside table was blaring harshly in her ear. It was another 5 hours before class, but she had to check in with a few of her father's men who ran one of the research facilities on earth before hand. She was expected there at 6 and she had to prepare, including getting ready and eating breakfast before hand.

Still 4 am was an unbecoming hour of the day for someone to get out of bed, Venus's Lady or not. Mercedes rolled over to turn off the obnoxious alarm clock and then simply glared at it hard. Shortly after there came a knocking on the large door to her bed room.

"Lady Mercedes," came the male voice from the other side.

Mercedes sat up to stretch. "I'm awake, Galen," she called out.

"Breakfast will be set in 45 minuets, Lady Mercedes," he told her through the door. "I will come to fetch you then."

"Yes, Galen," Mercedes sighed. 45 minutes was not a lot of time to get ready. It barely gave her enough time to shower and dry and style her hair. But it was routine and a routine Mercedes had grown quite accustomed to. She slid out of her comfortable and warm bed and still yawning made her way across the large bed room to the bathroom to shower.

45 minutes later she unlocked and opened the door to her bedroom and stepped outside. She had on a crisp dark blue pants suit, her hair up in a long pony tail. Over her arm she had a garment bag containing the skirt and sweater she would change into for class after her meeting had concluded. Galen was waiting for her in the hall. He was a young man, younger than her last Attendant had been by a good 20 or 30 years. He was 27 years old. He was tall, standing a good head and shoulders taller than Mercedes herself. He was lean and fit with dark hair and light eyes. He bowed a good morning to her before taking the garment bag and placing it over his arm.

As the two of them walked down the hall, Mercedes a step in front, he went over that day's schedule with her. Like Mercedes Galen wore more than one hat. He was her assistant, her driver, her butler, at times her adviser and at all times her body guard. He was still somewhat new to the job. Jacques had retired the previous year much to Mercedes disappointment. Almost immediately her father had sent Galen to take his place. He was the first young man who had ever been assigned to her. He had been one of Hector's own elite detail and must have impressed the elder Della Robea to entrust him with his only daughter.

"...you have class from 9 until 3," he was telling her as they walked. His eyes were on the clip board in his hand, "Micro managing, Political Science 301, Historical Venue and Accounting. After which you will be able to come back here to change and speak with your father before having dinner with Halan."

"Oh, that is tonight isn't it?" Mercedes frowned slightly.

"Yes," Galen looked up from the clipboard, "You have kept rescheduling it. It was going to come up eventually. You haven't seen him in almost 6 months. With your graduation coming up soon-"

Mercedes held up a hand to silence him, "Yes, Galen, I know." She started down the stairs towards the first level of her town home.

"Very well," Galen answered after a moment. He looked back at the clipboard, "I will call to confirm you will be at _Contessant_ tonight."

Mercedes had to stifle another yawn into the back of her hand as Galen talked. 4 am was still a ridiculous time to be up and about. She was met at the bottom of the stairs by two of the house's maids who each curtsied slightly to her and wished her a good morning. Mercedes nodded to each of them as she started towards the breakfast room. There waiting for her was quite the morning spread. Eggs, bacon, cereal, grapefruit, toast and tea. Mercedes frowned a bit and turned to look over her shoulder, "Will you please remind Cook that at this hour in the morning the only thing I'm prepared to eat is a cereal bar?"

Galen raised his eyes towards the table and blinked. He smiled faintly and nodded his head, "I think he has a hard time believing that a simple cereal bar will be sufficient for you through out the day."

"Well at 5 o'clock in the morning, I'm not really prepared to eat much else!" Mercedes huffed. She took her seat at the head of the table and helped herself to her toast, "Feel free to have the rest of my eggs if you want, Galen."

Galen had his own breakfast prepared for him as well. The helpings were in a smaller proportion to Mercedes', but he ate exactly what she ate. He smiled again and shook his head, "I'll have cook wrap them up and I'll have them for lunch."

"Eggs for lunch," Mercedes made a face as she nibbled on the toast.

"They're quite easily the best eggs I've ever had," he told her. He glanced down at the inside of his wrist and the watch that was seated there.

"How are we doing on time?" Mercedes asked.

"If all you're going to eat is toast, then we are ahead of schedule," Galen answered.

"It was your genius idea for me to be up this early," Mercedes made a face at him, "You should know by now that I don't eat a large breakfast."

"Yes of course," Galen bowed his head a little, "My mistake."

"Mmm," Mercedes finished the piece of toast. But she smiled anyway. Galen tried very hard, she had to give him credit for that. And she hadn't truly tested him yet. Jacques was so used to her and could have read her like a book. He had been her attendant since she had started school at 6 years old. There was not a thing she could say or do that would have thrown him. Mercedes was just itching to try to see how far she could push Galen until he dropped the official wall of an officer. "Well, let's go then," she got to her feet just as Galen had started to eat. He looked up at her, his fork still not having reached his mouth.

"The sooner we meet these scientists the sooner they can bore me to tears," Mercedes said holding up a finger and winking at him, "And then the sooner I can be through with them and write the report I'll give to father. Come on now, Galen." She turned from the table and made a vague gesture over her shoulder, "We'll have the cook wrap up what you haven't eaten."


	13. Chapter 13

**Thirteen.  
Good Morning**

"I see you made it home. You look chipper!"

Udara raised her head just enough to glare at the hulking mass in khaki pants and a loose red button up with sleeves rolled up through her bangs. The coffee travel mug beside her was half filled with iced hazelnut, her favorite. Corsten didn't even have to guess at that as he reached out and stole a sip. "Oh I am chipper, sweetheart, but whoever thought to have a toga party on a class night is out of their mind. I am just pleased that I had a later class so that it would not be so hard to get out of bed this morning."

Corsten took a seat at the table across from her, leaning in towards the girl closely with a wicked smile painted across his grinning face. "Speaking of bed," he cooed slyly. "I heard Meiyahima numero duo took you home."

Udara blinked. "Yes... yes he did. And duo is the incorrect word for two that-"

"And?"

She still looked puzzled. "And? And what? He walked me home and had to open my door for me as I was having some operation difficulties with my keys because a certain meat-headed idiot talked me… no, _volunteered_ me, for a drinking contest!"

"That's it?" Corsten asked disappointingly.

Ah, now she got it. "Yes that's it! Goodness, Corsten, just because every girl you and Sega come across is willing to hop into bed with you at the drop of a hat does not mean I will... obviously if I have repelled the advances of _you_ all for so long!"

"That's why we love ya!" He retreated from her face and sat back a little. "But seriously... you two looked so friendly. I just lost 20 on you!"

She scoffed. "You put money on whether or not I was going to _sleep_ with Ruo that night?"

"It was a joke! Calm down!"

"_Corsten_ _Vaughn_ _Fenlin_! Of all the _blatant_ displays of idiocy!"

"You're blushing, you like him."

Quickly Udara shut her mouth and returned to her text book. "I'm reading, go away. How is Sega, is he ok?"

"He's fine," he answered, "You're into him huh? I could tell, you hardly left his side all night!"

"I was really drunk, he was kind enough to keep an eye on me," she tried to cover. The last thing she wanted was Corsten running to Ryo to spread the good news. "Then you had to run off to go take care of your boyfriend and left me so what else was I supposed to do?"

Cor rose a brow. "So you don't really like him, you used him."

"I didn't say that!"

"So you like him?"

"_Corsten_!" At this point he was laughing wildly, so much for keeping anything to herself. But he was gone now, booking across the campus lawn towards the gardens with a skip in his step, looking back over his shoulder ever so often to make sure she wasn't trying to knife him.

Instead she sighed and shook her head. There was another hour yet before class and she worried how much damage Cor could do in an hour. An hour was a long time. And Corsten was very good at doing damage.


	14. Chapter 14

**Fourteen.  
A Strange Sort of Sighting**

Every morning without fail men showed up looking for work in the shipyard just outside of Chennai. Sega was one of these uneducated laborers and every morning he was standing with the others at the ship yard ready to go to work on whatever was offered to him.

He may have slept on Kappa House's couch from time to time, but he was no mooch. He was determined to work. He only made so much a day, not really enough to survive off of after he sent a portion back to his sisters on The Outpost. But enough so that he didn't feel as if he was leeching off of Corsten. And to be honest, Sega liked to work. He enjoyed having something to do that occupied his time, especially if it was outside. If he had worked hard all day it made relaxing, drinking and partying that much more enjoyable at night.

There had been a few times when Corsten had attempted to get him to go to school. He told Sega he was smart and could make a whole lot more money with at least a primary education under his belt. The university offered evening courses for that, after all. Wouldn't it be such a waste not to take advantage of it? Each and every time Corsten had tried to get him to enroll, Sega had turned him down. The truth was the young man could barely write his own name. Growing up, whenever someone had attempted to teach him to read letters and numbers swam crazily before his eyes. It was impossible for him to recognize the same symbol twice. By the time anyone bothered to diagnose him with dyslexia, it was too late and Sega had dropped out of school to go to work.

It was a little after 7 am when the truck pulled up along side them and the driver leaned out to announce he had work for 5 men that morning. Instantly, the five closest jumped into the bed of the truck, Sega among them. It didn't matter what the work was, as long as it was something to do.

He hunkered down along side the others as the truck circled the yard and headed back towards town. The five men rode in silence. Sega recognized one or two of them, workers that were at the yard every day like he was. He gave them each a nod and a sort of grin and he got at least one back. The others in the truck were new faces to him. One was leaning over his knees and looking at Sega strangely.

"What's with your eyes, man?"

"What?" Sega blinked at him.

"Your eyes, man," the guy repeated. He reached up and pointed at his own eyes, "They're, like, two different colors."

Sega frowned a bit. Why did people feel the need to point out things he already was aware of? His left eye was green. His right eye was blue. Not a green and a blue that was at all similar to each other, but deep royal blue and a bright emerald green.

"You born that way?"

Sega gave the man a sort of malicious looking smirk, "Now, if I could afford contacts, ya think I'd be ridin' back 'ere wit' tha lot o' you?"

A couple others chuckled a bit and shook their heads. The man across from Sega lapsed into silence and the rest of the ride was spent with no more conversation. No one was here to make friends.

They arrived at a large gray warehouse where many other large shipping trucks were parked in the back. The truck came to a stop and the man who had hired them got out. He instructed the men that they would be unloading the shipping trucks and moving the cargo inside the ware house. The utmost care had to be taken as the cargo was quite fragile. Each man would be paid $50 for their time.

As he did with most jobs, Sega jumped straight into work moving the large cargo crates. They were heavy and cumbersome. The trucks were musty, dusty and were more than just a little too warm inside. The warehouse wasn't much better. It was moist and humid inside and the air seemed stagnant. Sega never complained, though even after only an hour, he was sweating hard. He had paused to take a quick breather and gulp down some water that was being offered to the workers when he saw the car. It was a nice car, black with shining chrome wheels and grill. It wasn't a limo, but it was a car with a driver, that was for sure. The back windows were tinted. Sega watched as a young woman and a young man walked to the car. The young man stepped ahead to open the door for the woman. She paused before getting in. It looked as though the two were having a conversation and the girl looked quite annoyed. As Sega watched he felt his mouth go dry. He _knew _this girl. He knew her long green hair and her matching eyes. Knew her body language. Knew the gestures she was making. He knew her, but he was sure he had never seen her before in his life.

_Venus._

"Hey, what are you looking at?"

Sega quickly turned towards the man who had hired him that day, "What...I'm sorry, I just…" he looked back over his shoulder and then pointed, "who is that? Her names not Venus by any chance is it?"

The man looked at him strangely, "Of course not. That's Lady Mercedes Della Robea. Her family owns this whole place. Including the boxes you are being paid to move." The man folded his arms and leveled Sega with a look that stated plainly he would be fine not giving Sega a dime.

"Right, right," Sega hurried back towards the truck. He couldn't shake the odd feeling though. The name meant nothing to him, but he was sure, _absolutely _sure that he knew that girl. Knew her very, very well. Knew her to the point that he could almost tell instantly what she was thinking. Mercedes? No... he knew her as something else. As Venus.


	15. Chapter 15

**Fifteen.  
Attack of the Teenager**

Math. Of all the things she hated the most it was math. She had read the works of Socrates, understood Plato, studied every culture she could get her hand on and was trying to work her way into her third language at the school, not including her native language and Interplanetary Common. But when the letters started getting mixed in with her numbers it was when her brain had to draw a line. Numbers and letters together was just plain unacceptable, period! Yet the course had to be taken, the requirements met, and that meant math would have to be appeased in some fashion regardless of whether or not she liked it.

"Udara-sama, I do not understand why this is quite so difficult for you," said the older gentlemen at her elbow. "I have honestly tried my best to break this down as simply as possible without insulting your intelligence. How can I possibly get you to understand this simple equation?"

The blue haired scholar sighed and buried her head into her folded arms upon the table. "Insult my intelligence then," she mumbled, frustration clear in her tone. Her father had said this man was one of the brightest their school could boast in the Math and Physics department. At 28 he was nearly done with a complete doctoral degree in Quantum Physics with a minor in Mathematics. Already he was nearly done with his thesis and ready to publish his first paper. If anyone could help her with her math it was him, he said.

"I already have," he pointed out coolly, and flatly. While she sat there, head buried, he had time to look at her, study her, stare at her in the way he needed to in order to look through her. Out here in the open would not do, there were too many people around and he had no way of knowing how she would react. He couldn't take that chance. Besides, he wasn't even sure if she should be the first to know.

Her head popped up and looked at her watch. It was nearing 3 and she never had wanted to leave campus so badly! And the tutoring wasn't doing anything to improve her mood. Quickly, she needed an excuse to leave. "Oh," she feigned in a cry, "It's nearly 3, I have to go! I'm so sorry Marcus-sama... but I promised someone I would meet them for coffee."

The elder student rose a brow. "Oh?" he asked. "Is coffee more important then passing math?"

Udara smiled and waved him off. "I will pass math, you really are a great help and I do somewhat understand a little more now then when we started. But... honestly I have been here since 8 this morning, Marcus. And I was really looking forward to coffee with him!"  
_  
'Him? Already they're growing so close?'_ Marcus feigned a small smile and nodded. "I understand, but next time you will not skip out an hour early on our session?"

"No I promise!" She was already bouncing away across the courtyard with a wave, she couldn't wait to be gone and home! Although, stopping for coffee wasn't such a bad idea now that she thought about it... even though she really didn't have anyone waiting for her there like she wished she did, a nice hot chai before she sat down to the rest of her studies that evening sounded fantastic.

Maybe she would pick up something to eat on the way home too. Less she not eat, gods knew she was a terrible cook!

Back at the table Marcus watched the blue-haired girl go and pondered if he should follow. If she was off to meet who he thoughts she was it would be an opportune moment to catch the two head players in the game. However...

"_Maaaaaaaaaarcus_!"

The man sighed. However, there was his own little partner in crime he had to consider. She needed a job, otherwise she was going to make his difficult! "Yes, Char?"

A bouncy little blond, young to be at the college but not out of place, bounded up to him and nearly dove into the empty seat beside him. Char attended the prep school operated by the college, and had been one of Marcus' first tutoring jobs. "Was that her?" she asked snapping her gum in the typical obnoxious-teenager way. "Did you say anything to her? Where's she going? How'd she take it? You didn't say anything to her did you? Why not? What are you waiting for?"

"I didn't get a chance to, I'm tutoring her," he explained as he packed his books away into his black messenger bag. "But she had plans that cut in to our time together. I believe she's meeting up with him. I told you what I'm waiting for. Why are you asking me so many damn questions?"

"Oh ree-ree?" she asked raising a blond brow sharply. Her interest did not have to be feigned, this bit of information deeply intrigued her. "How incredible! Are you going to follow her?"

"Why on Earth would I do that?"

Char shrugged. "To make sure."

Marcus shook his head and stood up. "You do it then, weirdo! I don't go stalking people-"

"Is that so? What did we do last night then?" she asked with a smarmy little smile to her lips. "What do you call that, people watching? Fine, I'll go then!"

Before he could tell if she was joking or serious Char was already leaving, taking off in the same direction Udara had. Suddenly, he had a headache.


	16. Chapter 16

**Sixteen.  
A Narrow Miss**

"Look out!"

Seul Kwon had been seated outside the little bistro when the young girl had come rushing by. She had caught her eye as she raced towards the little coffee shop next door looking as though she were searching very intently for someone and finding this person was of utmost importance. She was maybe somewhere around 12 or 13 years old with long blond pigtails. It was odd for someone so young to have such an intense look, as though their mission meant the survival of the world.

Seul had gone back to her book, pita and hummus and only heard the sudden urgent cry of warning. She looked up quickly to see the same blond pigtails jump out of the way and narrowly avoided getting run over by a bicyclist. The bicyclist on the other hand wasn't so lucky, and as he swerved to avoid her, he lost control of his bike and dropped it on its side, going sliding himself for a couple of feet until he hit one of the thin trees that lined the sidewalk.

Seul watched as the blond pigtailed girl ran the short distance to him. "Oh my _gawds_!" She gushed reaching down to help him up, "Are you ok? Oh my gawds I am like so unbelievably sorry! Are you mad? You're mad aren't you? You have every reason to be mad but I swear I didn't mean it! Please don't be mad, mister!"

The bicyclist looked a little shaken and dazed. White hair peeked out from under his helmet, which Seul thought he was lucky to be wearing. He was wearing a gray uniform and had a blue and gold messenger bag. Both were scuffed and his left pant leg looked a little ripped.

"I am so sorry!" The girl continued saying as the other young man got to his feet and righted his bike. Seul expected him to be angry with her, to yell at her for not paying attention to where she was going and darting out into the street as she had. To Seul's surprise he only gave her a smile.

"I'm ok. No reason to be mad," he told her, that genuine smile never faltering once. He quickly mounted the bike again.

"Are you sure?" The young girl pressed, "I could buy you a coffee or something or-"

He held up a hand, "No, no, that's fine. I'm sorta in a hurry. Gonna be late for work." He reached out to gently pat her head reassuringly, "I told you, I'm fine. Just be more careful, ok?"

"Ok..." the girl looked more than just slightly apologetic.

Satisfied that the event had passed, Seul glanced down to her book again. As her eyes moved, they fell onto a black leather bound book on the ground that she had been sure hadn't been there before. It must have fallen out of the messenger bag when the white haired bicyclist dropped his bike. Quickly Seul got to her feet and raced to pick it up before it got trampled on.

"Wait," she called out, but it was too late. The bike and its owner was already riding at top speed down the street. "Wait!" Seul tried to give chase, but only got as far as the young girl before she found it to be useless. "Oh no."

"Hey whatcha got there?" Seul turned and blinked to find the young girl looking curiously at the book. Then she looked up at Seul, her brows knitted together.

"I think he must have dropped this," Seul answered in her deeper and softer voice.

"Oh no!" The girl looked absolutely horrified. She quickly took the book from Seul. "I hope it isn't really important!" She turned it over a few times in her hands. It wasn't a book one read, Seul could tell by looking at the cover. It was leather bound, looking home made. The pages within were uneven indicating being hand cut and glued. There was a small leather thong that wrapped around a metal toggle on the front.

"A journal?" Seul mused in her deep soft voice.

"Oh, if it's a journal it must be important!" the girl exclaimed. She quickly started to undo the leather thong.

"Oh, wait," Seul reached out to stop her. The girl peered up at her quizzically. Seul felt her cheeks blush a little bit, "If it's a private journal, you shouldn't open it."

"But it may have his name in it," the girl answered. "How else am I going to return it?" Without waiting for Seul to answer she unwrapped the leather thong and opened the journal. Much to Seul's relief she did not attempt to look deep into the book, but only inside the front cover. "_Yatta_!" She cried, "I knew it would have a name!" She squinted at the writing, "Thomas Dahl."

"Is there an address?" Seul asked.

"It's kinda hard to read actually," the blond haired girl was squinting at the cover, "here, you try." She handed the book back to Seul.

Seul carefully took it, as though it were a fragile thing. She felt a little uneasy looking into the private journal of a man she did not know, even if it was just the inside cover. But she could make out his name and the address easily. She said it aloud for the girl.

"I'll return it!" The girl exclaimed quickly taking the book back and closing it with a soft _bak_noise. "But first..." she started looking around quickly, her pig tails swishing over her shoulders. Her eyes became huge and the intense look she had before was back, "oh no!"

"What?" Seul asked.

"I've lost her! Oh! Marcus-sama will be so disappointed!" the girl practically wailed.

"Are you looking for someone?" Seul tilted her head a little bit.

"Yeah." The girl looked down trodden and defeated. Her shoulders slumped, her eyes on the ground at her inward turned feet. Even her pig tails looked as though they had drooped a little bit.

"Oh, well," Seul started carefully, "I could help you find them if you'd-"

"Would you?" The girl perked up instantly and clasped the leather journal to her chest hopefully, "with two people looking, it will be so much easier to find her!"

"I-I suppose," Seul stammered.

"Great! Then after we can return this journal." The girl grabbed Seul by the arm and started off down the street, "Lets go!"


	17. Chapter 17

**Seventeen.  
Total Misunderstandings**

"There!"

Seul blinked as she peered out between the large decorative plants she and this younger girl stood behind. They were hiding, obviously, though Seul wasn't quite sure why they were hiding. It had been easy enough to find this blue-haired woman they spied upon now, but why were they spying on her? "That's her?" she asked her accomplice. "Why are we hiding then if you've found her?"

Char looked up at the woman with a look, one that read the very question was just silly. "Why would we approach her if I'm supposed to watch her? It would defeat the whole purpose!"

"Why are you watching her?"

"Because she's important," she answered in a very serious tone. "She's important to Marcus-sama, and he wants to see if she's meeting with who he thinks she is instead of studying with him!"

Seul put a hand to her mouth as the blond girl turned back to watch the mysterious woman. What had she gotten herself into? This little girl was being sent to spy for someone wrapped up in a lover's quarrel? That was simply... simply uncalled for! Highly inappropriate! Of course the blue-haired woman was sitting alone at the cafe, outside under a brilliant green umbrella writing in a journal of some type and didn't look as if she were really waiting for anyone but... why did she look somewhat familiar to her? Like she had seen her in passing, and it was right there on the tip of her brain, but nothing definite could come out?

"Oh, the phone comes out," Char whispered in an excited tone as though she was giving commentary to the actions the blue haired woman made. "Dun dun dun! Who will she call? Will she call Romeo, her fated lover and meet him secretly at the cafe away from the watchful eyes of the university?"

"I really don't think this is very appropriate-"

Char shrugged. "You can leave if you want to, but I have to wait and watch her for Marcus-sama! It's important."

Seul paused and bit her lip, this Marcus must be really worried about her if he's sending someone to spy on her. At the same time, could he just be an insanely jealous lover? And this poor woman was just meeting a friend for tea only to have this little girl run back to her boyfriend and inform him that she had met with someone suspicious? What would happen to the blue-haired woman?

This whole situation was ridiculous. This was what she got for trying to help people.

*****

Udara was turning her phone over in her hand with a look of deep thought creasing her brows. It took her quite some time to actually make up her mind, and the path she chose sent butterflies loose in her stomach.

Flipping her phone open to reach the little keyboard inside she fired off a text.

"_Ryo-kun, can I have your brother's number? I meant to get it from him but I couldn't operate my keys much less my phone! ^^"_

She watched the phone for what seemed like eternity until the screen lit up blue and a tone chimed, signaling his response:

"_U just won me 50 frm Fenlin, taking bets on how long b4 u wanted Oru's #. U can have it 4 that!..._"

Udara scribbled down the number and huffed. That damn Corsten! Always running his mouth to the guys! And everything has to be a damn bet! Whatever, she'd deal with him later. Now she had another decision to make... to call or to text, and regardless of how she did it what did she say? Does she mention that she had gotten his number from his brother? Would that seem creepy? Would he even want to come out for coffee with her? If he said no she would be so embarrassed... but if she said nothing and he would be able to come out then she'd feel even worse!

"Oh what the hell," she sighed and fired off another text. "No pain no gain I suppose. And it's not like I'm looking for a boyfriend, I just..." She looked up and realized she was justifying this to herself! "Oh Udara, you need a vacation or something..."  
_  
"__Hey I got your number from Ryo, I hope that's ok! =3 I'm at the cafe by the beach and was wondering if you'd like to join me? Had to bail on tutoring, couldn't take it anymore! Totally needed an escape, wanna meet? *^_^*__"_


	18. Chapter 18

**Eighteen.  
Surprise! Text!**

Ruo's phone was buzzing. For a moment Ruo didn't understand what the noise was. No one ever called him or texted him. So whenever his phone started to buzz it always took Ruo a minute or so to figure out what it was. He had never even heard it actually ring before.

Mami-Rin was lounging sideways in one of the chairs in the living room. She looked up from her magazine, her brows furrowing together. As far as she could remember, she'd never heard her older brother's phone go off before. "Is that you?" She asked.

"Mmm," Ruo reached out to pull the phone from his back pack.

"Someone's actually calling _you?" _Mami-Rin raised a brow as she watched him.

"Text, actually," Ruo answered.

"Are you sure it's for you and not for Niisama?" Mami swung her legs from over the arm rest and stretched her arms before getting up and coming over to the desk Ruo had been working at. Ruo regarded her with a frown and Mami only smiled and shrugged, "Ruo. Ryo. It's very similar. You know, I always wondered if Mama had done that on purpose. It doesn't seem like something Father would do, ne?"

"Don't you have homework?"

"Done," Mami-Rin waved him off before leaning over his arm to peer at the cell phone. "So, who's it from?"

"None of your-hey!" Ruo reached out to grab the cell back when Mami snatched it out of his hands.

"Udara," Mami-Rin had already flipped the phone open and was looking at the text, "Udara? As in Udara Dunia?" Mami-Rin looked up at him with wide eyes, "As in Dean Maso Dunia's _daughter_, Udara?"

"Maybe," Ruo had leaned forward to grab the phone back. Mami-Rin relinquished it easily.

"Where the hell did you meet Udara Dunia?" Mami-Rin demanded. She put her hands on her hips.

"The party the other night," Ruo answered her as he read the text Udara had sent him.

"And she's looking for you." Mami-Rin raised a brow.

"You're really having a hard time putting your mind around the fact that I just might have a social life, aren't you?" Ruo glanced up at her.

Mami leveled him with a 'you-can't-be-serious' look.

Ruo frowned a bit at her.

"Well, aren't you going to answer her?" Mami-Rin asked. Then she smirked, "Oh, that's right, you text like some old lady. Here, lemme do it for you!" And before Ruo could tell her otherwise, Mami-Rin had grabbed the phone again. Her fingers flew across the T-9 keys, then she flipped closed the phone and handed it back to Ruo. "You know, I bet you'd learn quicker if you got a phone with a touch pad instead of this antiquated thing."

"Like what you got?"

"Or Niisama," Mami nodded.

"I don't need anything that fancy," Ruo answered. He reached up and took back his phone when his younger sister handed it to him. "What did you tell her?"

"That you'd meet her in 20 minutes," Mami smirked.

"What?" Ruo stared at her.

Mami-Rin grabbed him by his arm and started to pull him to his feet, "Trust me, you'll thank me later. Come on, come on. She's waiting for you!"


	19. Chapter 19

**Nineteen.  
****Overthinking.**

_*buzzbuzz**buzzbuzz*_

_*Chime!*_

"_Sounds good, be there in 20_"

Udara almost dropped her phone. Suddenly she almost wished she could run home, shower and redress before he got there. But there certainly wasn't enough time! Honestly she hadn't really expected him to be so open to the idea of randomly meeting like that, certainly his tone the previous night when she had suggested getting together sometime suggested he was unsure of the idea himself. Either because he was just a naturally quiet guy, which she was guessing, or he really wasn't 'that into her' as she had heard Corsten and Radik discussing one day about girls they had liked but really didn't like _enough_.

Then, did that mean he wasactually into her?

Cherry eyes peered around, looked over her shoulder and scanned the area for familiar faces. The problem with a "college town", even with one spanning the size of a city as in the case of Chennai, was that everyone knew everyone else. And already Corsten had upheld his devilish nature, running off to go report his findings to Ryonosuke. Not that she was afraid of anyone catching them out together, oh she could care less! She just didn't _need_ everyone else caring what she did. That was hard when you were the daughter of the dean himself, a more then slightly high-profile title. Ruo had already nearly had himself a small aneurism when she had introduced herself, and now couldn't stop calling her "Dunia-sempai". Her biggest fear at that moment was she was going to scare him off simply by being who she was.

The thought made her sad. Yeah she had over the year been involved with a few guys here and there, but nothing ever serious. Why? Because her father wasn't just a nice guy and a smart man, but an important one well known through every college network on the planet. He had been invited to attend Athens University, he was an expert on mythology, archeology, and those were some pretty big shoes to fill. Every guy she might have been able to "get in to" had left her. Always she tried to tell herself they obviously weren't worth her time or good enough for her, but the truth was they always said it was she who was too good for them and they couldn't carry the burden of involvement with the Princess. Too much could go wrong, and all this was assumed without them giving even an ounce of effort to have a good time outside of the party they had met at. Maybe that was her problem, she kept meeting party-guys. But the bookworms, the honor roll students, the smart ones were just so… _boring!_

This was probably why Corsten was so over-protective of her, and why she so adored him, Radik and Sega. They were some of the few people who treated her as if she were any other student. Even if they did kind of parade her around as if she granted them some sort of immunity around the campus.

Again she picked up her phone and glanced at the time, now she was anxious.

*****

"Why does she always look so sad?" Char asked more to herself then Seul. "It's like it just washes over her, comes and goes. Then she snaps herself out of it. What a funny girl."

Seul rubbed her arm uncertainly and looked around. "I really don't think this is a good idea, we should not be spying upon her like this. It is an invasion of her privacy and... it's just not very polite. Why don't we find Thomas' home and return his book instead?"

The blond girl looked rather put out, but the older woman did have a point... what they were doing wasn't very nice at all. Yet the curiosity was killing her! She supposed that if they dropped the book of quickly she could come back and see if Udara was still there, and if she had met up with _him_ yet. "Well... I suppose..."


	20. Chapter 20

**Twenty.  
****Spies Like Us?**

"Let's just wait another few minutes, ok?" the little blond girl looked up and over at Seul pleadingly. "Then we can go return that book. I _really _want to see if he shows up!"

"Who?" Seul finally asked, "Who is it that you want to see so desperately?"

"Uhh," the blond girl rolled her eyes towards the sky as if she were trying to locate something within her memory. She was quiet for a moment before she answered, "I think his name is Meiyahima Ruo. Or is it Meiyahima Ryonosuke? Snap… I can't remember which one it was…"

"You don't know?" Seul asked, "How will you know once he arrives then?"

"Oh, I've seen him before!" the girl exclaimed brightly. "Both Marcus and I have. We followed them the other night."

This was getting very serious. It had gone straight from spying to stalking and Seul wasn't sure if she wanted to be a part of this any longer. "Let's just go and return the book, ok?" she pleaded, "I really don't feel right in doing this. I don't want to get her into any sort of trouble with her boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" the blond answered looking a little confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Aren't you spying on her for Marcus?" Seul asked.

"Yeeess..." the younger girl answered carefully. Then she started giggling. "Oh! You think-no, no," she waved a hand vaguely, "Marcus isn't Udara's _boyfriend_! He's her _tutor_!"

"Oh," Seul blinked. Well, that changed a few things. "And he wanted you to spy on her because...?"

"Marcus didn't ask me," the girl explained still laughing, "I _volunteered_. Because it's so romantic! They're destined, you know."

"Oh," Seul repeated. She looked up and over at the blue haired girl. She supposed that did sound a bit romantic. And despite that what they were doing _was _an invasion of the other girl's privacy, she did find that her interest was piqued. Perhaps the blond girl's enthusiasm was a little contagious in that respect. She supposed that Thomas Dahl would still be at the address written on the inside cover of his journal later. She folded her arms around it and held it to her chest.

"So, I take it then that we're staying?" the girl was grinning at her knowingly.

Seul's cheeks flushed a little bit as she nodded slightly, "Well, perhaps for a few more minutes."

It was only a couple of more minutes before Udara snatched up her cell phone. She flipped open the keyboard, typed something, closed it and got to her feet.

"Oh! Where is she going now?" the young blond got to her feet quickly. "Hey! Now what is she doing? She's not meeting him? No way!"

Seul shrugged as she too got to her feet. She quickly followed after the blond girl who was in turn following the girl called Udara out of the cafe and onto the street. It was dusk and a purple sort of twilight had started to fall over Chennai. In another few moments the street lamps would be on. The blond was looking around having already lost Udara. She was making very frustrated noises and stamping her left foot occasionally. "Oh dammit! I lost her!"

"Well, perhaps she's gone home," Seul suggested. "It is getting late."

"I guess," the blond glanced at her watch, "yeah, that's probably it. Aww, what a disappointment! I really wanted to see them together. I wonder if they act like boyfriend and girlfriend already? They seemed really close the other night. I really wanted to see a kiss or a hug or _something_. Man, what a bust!"

Seul smiled a little. The young girl was so cute with how serious she was taking this. "Why don't you come with me to return this journal? Since it will be dark by then, I can walk with you back."

"Ok," the girl answered with a casual shrug. As they started walking she smiled up at the older woman with her, "My name's Chariko Hiino. But everyone calls me Char, or Char-chan."

"Seul Kwon," Seul answered with a small smile. Char-chan was such a cute name and it fit the perky energetic blond girl so perfectly.

"Oh, that's so pretty," Char said.

The two talked as they walked out of the university district of Chennai and more into the metropolitan area. Char seemed surprised to learn that Seul was in her late 20's. She said she would have bet that she was much younger than that. Char was from Mercury. Seul was from Saturn. The two girls chatted about their homes and how different they were and what was alike about them. Char said her parents had sent her to Earth to attend prep school. They traveled a lot, she told Seul. All over the system. She was a little jealous. But only a little. After all, she'd met Marcus and he was so nice to her. Seul told her she was here finishing up her doctorate for veterinary medicine. This seemed to impress Char a great deal.

"Marcus is working towards getting his doctorate too!" she exclaimed.

"In what?" Seul asked politely.

"Math or some equally gross and boring area," Char made a face, "The most boring thing in the _universe._ But he thinks it's amazing. No one gets excited over numbers like Marcus can. For someone as totally hawt as Marcus-sama is, he is like so totally lame sometimes. I think by hanging out with him, I make him look cool."

Seul smiled.

"We _have _to be getting closer!" Char exclaimed finally. She reached out and took the book from Seul and opened it up. She checked the inside cover to confirm they were at least on the right street. Once that had been done, she started flipping through the pages.

"Oh, you mustn't do that, Char-chan!" Seul was aghast. "That's all private!"

"Look, Seul," Char didn't appear as though she even heard the woman's caution, "Its a sketch book. Wow, some of these are really good. See?" She turned the book towards Seul so she could see.

It was a simple black and white drawing, an abstract piece. However, the detail was amazing. Seul took the book to study it a bit more carefully. Shapes melted into one another so seamlessly and seemed to retain their own qualities. Chewing her lip a little bit, she flipped through a few of the other pages. Abstract wasn't the only thing Thomas seemed to do. He did some impressionist work and some more fanciful pieces. Some in pencil, others in other forms of medium. Some colored, others not. But all of them were amazingly detailed and done so with someone who really had no small amount of talent.

"I wanna see!" Char took the book back. She looked through it as well, "Wow. I wonder if this guy's like famous or something. These are really, really good."

Seul's cheeks had flushed again. Could he be famous? What on Earth would she say to someone famous?


	21. Chapter 21

**Twenty One.  
****The Coffee Vein**

_sorry sis got the phone  
__would still like coffee  
__meet me Coffee Vein_

At first Udara had been scared that he was canceling on her. Her heart had instantly slammed up into her throat with his first message. Come the second text, she felt instantly on air. By the third text, the girl was practically floating as she made a hasty retreat of the coffee chain she had been sitting at. She didn't even notice the two girls who were quick to follow her. Everyone else in Chennai may as well have ceased to exist. He wanted to meet her!

She would have swooned if she had been a lesser person. Part of her still very much wanted to do so. She was so giddy as she hurried up the street towards the trolley stop. She knew where the Coffee Vein was. It was a privately owned small shop outside the university district and closer to the down town area of the city. She and her father often stopped there whenever they went into town. She was surprised Ruo knew about it. Many of Madres' students rarely ventured from the university district that was so close to their frats, sororities and student housing. There was no need to. Not that Chennai was dangerous, but just about anything a student ever could want was always within walking distance of the dorms.

Perhaps it was his secretive nature to want to be away from people who might know him, she thought. He wasn't like many of the other men she knew. He was quiet and reserved, only speaking when he absolutely had something to say. Not like Corsten or Sega at all! Ruo was a thinker. Those still waters, Udara was sure, must run so very deep. He may have been the younger twin, but Ruo was leaps and bounds ahead of Ryonosuke as far as maturity went. He must have been the brains of the two, Udara was sure. A smart, pensive young man like Ruo would surely want to get away from the immaturity of the rowdy crowds the university had swelling within it.

Her head was positively swimming and she clung onto the trolley's pole so very tightly with both of her slender hands. The smile on her mouth was so radiant and so wide, others around her couldn't help but to smile too regardless of if they knew who she was or not. Her happiness was that infectious.

She hopped lightly from the trolley when it came to her stop. If she were more certain of her own grace, she would have twirled like she was channeling Fred Estare, and had she been alone on the sidewalk she would have spun in a circle like they did in those crazy musicals. Instead, she hurried towards the corner she knew the Coffee Vein to be at. She had pulled her phone from her bag to look at it. Her heart skipped faster when she saw no more messages had come from him. He wasn't going to bail on her at the last moment. She really was going to meet with him. She really was going to have him all to herself!

Mostly to herself. The coffee shop was busy, as it usually was. But Udara found her companion easily enough. She honed right in on him as though she had been equipped with Ruo Seeking Radar. Her cheeks ached, but she smiled more as she made her way to the small table he was seated at. She was breathless as though she had run the entire way there.

"H-hi," she couldn't help the smile she knew probably looked idiotic, but she couldn't stop herself. She didn't even have it in her to try to stop.

He looked up at her, his dark blue hair falling away from his crimson eyes. And he smiled back, "Hi. You got here fast. Did you run the whole way?"

Udara's face flushed a bit as she realized she was still panting a bit from excitement, not necessarily from her trip. "Not exactly..." she sat down quickly across from him. "I'm just...I guess you could say...happy we get this chance to meet, minus the heavy drinking."

He smiled a little bit more in an amused sort of way. The left corner of his mouth reaching a bit father than his right. He looked down at the table for a moment before he spoke again, "I'm glad. I'm sorry it was all the way out here, but I sorta wanted to do this in a place that my brother wouldn't necessarily 'wander' into."

"Ryonosuke giving you a hard time?" Udara smiled a little knowingly.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Ruo rolled his eyes, "It's like primary school all over again."

"Corsten's been pretty unbearable too," Udara answered sympathetically. She gave a small chuckle she hoped was more convincing than she felt, "I mean, it's not like we've never dated before? Like, you know, other people, obviously," she quickly amended. "_We've _never dated, of course. Not to say that we are! That would be presumptuous of me to say such a thing!" She quickly closed her mouth before anything truly stupid came out of her silly, rambling mouth.

"Well," Ruo withdrew a little leaning back a bit more in his chair, "the truth is Udara, I really haven't."

Udara's shock overcame her embarrassment, "What do you mean?"

"Well, Ryo's always been the more popular one," Ruo explained with a shrug. "It's no big thing, he's the one who likes all the attention all the time. He's more outgoing, he _wants _it more than I do."

Udara listened and chewed on her thumbnail a little. She didn't know Ryonosuke as long as she had known Radik, Corsten and Sega, but in the short time she did know him, she thought she knew a lot about him. He was very outgoing. So very open. He was the type to say exactly what was on his mind, consequences be damned. The type to say things just for the reaction. He _did _like the attention, she realized. He thrived on it.

"So... you've lived in Ryo-kun's shadow then?" she asked.

"I wouldn't say that, really," Ruo shrugged again."Ryo always made sure I was given the time of day. Woe to the one who forgot to give me my due. I didn't want the recognition necessarily, I was always just happy to sit back and watch."

"Was?" Udara tilted her head, "Things have changed then?"

"Yeah. Sort of," Ruo answered, "_We've _changed, at least."

"What is it you want now?" Udara asked.

Ruo was silent for a moment and looking at the table quite hard. His almond shaped eyes narrowed hard as though he were trying to focus on something very far away for him. Finally he shook his head, the longer front pieces of his hair falling over his eyes as he looked up, "I'm not really sure, Udara," he answered. Then he added in a quieter voice, almost as if he were ashamed to, "I just know it's different than what Ryo wants."


	22. Chapter 22

**Twenty Two.  
****The Story of Crazy Old Maso**

"And that's bad?" Ruo looked up at her, the girl who sat across the table from him giving him a quizzical yet knowing little smile. "To want something different from Ryo-kun I mean. I don't see how that is bad at all, you _are _two separate and different people after all." Cherry pools dropped and looked at her henna covered hands, a small chuckle escaped her lips and she sighed. "Kinda sounds like father and I."

"What does?" Ruo asked tilting his head slightly.

Udara looked back up at him and smiled, shugging just slightly so her blue hair shook like a waterfall down her shoulders. "Father is the Dean, a great and reputable man in academia. Mother always warns me not to follow in my father's footsteps just because I feel I should. You know, have my doctorate, take a chair on the board, become a tenured professor, and possibly make dean of Madres myself someday. Sometimes I think I only do it because I know that's all I can really do, what I know how to do. The System doesn't need an over-educated woman of history like myself on any of the planets. The only place scholars like daddy and I go are back into the schools and universities. That's ok with me, I like Madres, but sometimes I really wish I could do something different, something more. Dedicate my life to something like father has."

"How would you not dedicate your life to something by teaching?" Ruo asked. He was listening, intently, because she understood him perfectly. Having someone understand like that was almost refreshing, without him having to over-explain himself or give up on the conversation because they just weren't getting it, or he was growing uncomfortable with it. There was no discomfort or awkwardness here. "That's exactly what your Father seems to have done."

Udara couldn't help but to laugh at him, oh the things so many never knew about the strange Dr. Maso Dunia. "Oh, no it's not," she said laughing still which caused Ruo to frown in slight confusion. "Teaching, and his students, are more of an enjoyably hobby that takes him away from his true 'job', if you are so interested in the truth." The raised eyebrow said that yes, the midnight haired young man was indeed curious. "My father is an archeologist, Ruo-kun, and a collector. He chases history, myths. Like so many chased the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail, my father chases his own myth. And has since he was in junior high school I believe."

"What is it?"

_'Wow, he's actually really interested in what I have to say'_, she thought to herself. He wasn't just nodding his head going 'uh-huh, uh-huh, wow' hoping to get some later on, he was actually sitting there following her with a touch of fascination! It was incredible, and surprising. Of course, she had already figured out how mature he was so it went without saying... "The Millennium Kingdom myth. You know, the one with the Moon Queen and the protective warriors from each planet? Father has been researching it for so many years... he's positive he could find the lost Crystal Kingdom, and the Silver Crystal that belonged to the Queens Serenity. I believe him, seeing as how I've grown up on the stories of Queens Serenity, Selene and Nyx, and their roll as the system ruler Senshi Moon... when I was little I wanted to be her when I grew up just because of how paataa talked about her and how important she was."

Udara chucked again and looked back down to her detailed little hands. "Sometimes he talks about it like it could happen again... and I have no idea what he's talking about honestly, he just sounds nuts. Dr. Saipere would know and understand, he's father's best friend and the only other one who knows all of father's information on the subject. I think when they both retire finally they're going to disappear and chase this crystal."

"Off to find Camelot?" Ruo joked lightly.

It made Udara laugh again. "Yeah, just like that too. And if he found the crystal he'd be off to the next manhunt, the search for a descendant of Moon. I could see after about the third or fourth person he called ranting and raving about being the next 'Moon' or 'Jupiter' they would carry him away to his own kingdom of the padded cell. I think mom and I are pretty much reserved to that fate for father."

It was Ruo's turn to laugh, softly, but laugh none the less. "Should we get some coffee?" he asked not meaning to change the conversation, but they had been there the whole time without so much as thinking to order something. "I mean, it would defeat the purpose if we didn't..."

"This is true," she nodded. "Hopefully no one will steal our seat before we get back."


	23. Chapter 23

**Twenty Three.  
****The Strange Land Lord**

Seul had knocked on the apartment door, but no one had answered. It couldn't have been a very large apartment. They were crammed into the small space one right on top of the other, so it couldn't be as though he didn't hear. There were no windows facing the covered walk where the two girls stood, but Char was crouched down and peering in through the mail slot.

"Looks dark," she reported.

"Then he mustn't be home," Seul answered.

"He was in a hurry earlier," Char was peering through the mail slot again, a frown pulling on the corners of her mouth, "If it wasn't to come home, then where?"

"He was wearing some sort of uniform and I don't think he's quite young enough to be in high school," Seul said thoughtfully. "Besides, is it not well after the proper time for grade-school students to be in class?"

"Yeah, he wouldn't have been going to school at that hour anyway!" Char exclaimed as if the concept of after-hours cram school was foreign to her.

"Then to work perhaps?"

Char nodded her head in agreement, "Probably. But where?"

Seul shrugged as Char got to her feet beside her. "Maybe we could knock on the landlord's door and ask them to give it to Thomas when he returns?"

"No way!" Char exclaimed as she practically pulled the book from Seul's arms, "We'll never know for sure if he actually gets it and that'll just _kill _me! Something this important should totally be hand-delivered to ensure its safety!"

'Then-" Seul started but Char quickly cut her off.

"I bet the landlord _does _know where this Thomas guy works though," she exclaimed. She quickly took Seul by the arm and led the way towards the stairs. "They could tell us easily and we could bring it straight to him. Can you imagine how happy he'd be if we returned it like that?"

"At his work?" Seul didn't sound quite as sure, "Should we really disturb him if he's-"

"I can't wait to tell Marcus I met a famous artist!" Char wasn't listening to Seul at all.

Seul wasn't sure how famous Thomas could be if he had to do actual work for a living. She followed Char down the stairs and then quickly stepped forwards to lead the way towards the door with a "Management" sign hung rather haphazardly on it. She also wasn't sure how famous he could be if he lived in such a dump. She knocked on the door.

A moment passed before a grizzled old man stuck his head out. He squinted up at Seul for a moment, smacking his lips together thoughtfully. "My, yer a tall one, aint'cha?" he stated after a moment.

Seul was taken a bit aback and blinked down at the old man for a moment before she found her voice to speak again, "We're looking for Thomas. Mr. Thomas Dahl?"

"He lives here." The old man's head bobbed up and down. "Ain't home though."

"We figured that much out on our own," Char rolled her eyes sarcastically, "Can you tell us where he works so we can find him?"

The old man tilted his head a little at the younger girl then back up at Seul. He looked clearly confused and surprised. Thomas must not have received many visitors.

"Do you know where he is or not? This is like, important," Char demanded impatiently. She had both of her hands on her hips and was tapping her foot in fast growing annoyance.

"You'll have to excuse me, little miss," the old man gave her a look, "Thomas Dahl doesn't get much in the way of visitation, if you know what I mean." He winked up at Seul, "Particularly from two pretty little things such as yourselves." He paused as though considering something quite important, "Though, 'little' probably ain't the best word to describe you."

Seul's cheeks flushed pink instantly. She threw her arms over her chest.

"I'd always thought he was a wee bit silly, you know?" the old man winked at the pair knowingly.

Seul's cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of pink.

"What are you talking about?" Char demanded with a confused frown. She was here to get information, not play riddles with this crazy old man.

"Can you please tell us where it is we can find him?" Seul cut in quickly.

The old man was eying her again as though he wasn't too sure what to make of her. Finally he snorted and shook his head, "This week he works over night at one of those museums in town. The history one, I think. Least that's what his lease agreement tells me."

"Thank you very much, sir." Seul quickly turned and guided Char away from the apartment and the strange sleazy man.

Char stumbled along, looking back over her shoulder at the strange old landlord he was 'tsking' and shaking his head and muttering something about strange silly creatures before returning into his apartment and closing the door.

"What was that all about?" Char looked up at Seul's deeply flushed face.


	24. Chapter 24

**Twenty Four  
****Temper Tantrums of a Teenage**

Returned her to Marcus?

But... but that would mean having to study for that upcoming math exam...

And she hated numbers! Though, Marcus always got this strange little smile and satisfaction when tutoring her about math and physics... and Marcus-sama was soooooooo cute when he was all happy like that...

...but she _hated_ numbers!

"__!" the blond let out a long, dramatic, and loud wail flipping herself around and attaching herself quite suddenly to Seul's side. Her face buried itself into her torso near her arm when suddenly the older woman felt the fall of gravity. She became aware that the girl was throwing all her weight down onto her. "_PLEASE_ don't make me gooooooooo! I wanna take the book to Thomas too!"

"Char!" Seul cried in surprise before almost losing her balance. "What on earth-?"

"If, if you take me back to Marcus-sama he's gonna make me study all night before I go back to the dorms... again! You don't understand, I love Marcus-sama to death... but... but-but I don't love his _numbers_! I have no life because he's always making me study those damn sciences in preparation for the entry exam to Madres but _I DON'T WANNA! I'M ONLY 13 AND I WANT TO BE FREE SOMETIMES TOO_!"

Seul could almost swear the girl was sobbing, but she had also been a teenager once, and knew how some girls were. Gently a hand patted her shoulder and she smiled down at the girl, handing her the cherished sketchbook. "I very much do understand, Char-chan. One can only take so much studying before the legs and the brain must be stretched."

Char looked up at her and smiled faintly. Being an only child had granted her a few skills, even if Seul was hip to her game. "So... we can go?"

"Yes," she nodded. "We can go, and let us go quickly to get as far away from here as possible. But then you _must_ return to Marcus-sama… and his numbers!"

Char's second wind caught up to her and exploded. "Damn skizzy! I totally can't go back without meeting Thomas first!"

~~~~~*~~~~~

Marcus was almost sure his shoulder was going to fall apart before he reached his apartment, and considered using a wheelbarrow to get his books home instead of his bag. Little had he realized just how much time had passed before his stomach growled and it alerted him that it was far past time to leave the library to return home. That was what happened when Char was occupied and he was left to his own devices, he actually got things done. Though most of the time he was glad for the company, his own siblings having abandoned him at the brainwashing of his paternal-units. Char seemed to thrive on the attention, must have been lonely being an only child with parents who were so aloof as she had described them.

It had certainly been lonely being the prince groomed for a 'business' turned empire to rule a family he had no interest in, if that's how one wanted to look at his life. Two little outcasts drawn to each other, oh how the mistress named Fate had a way of doing things.

As he made his way along the sidewalks of the campus he heard voices up ahead and recognized the group that walked. The rugby club, many of whom he tutored as freshmen. As the lone scholar and the group passed each other a few respectful nods were exchanged. Marcus wasn't popular, but he was well known as one of the brightest among such people as Udara Dunia the very "Princess" of Madres herself, Mercedes Della Robea the business guru and "Princess" of Venus with the flawless academic record and average, the up-coming Mami-Rin Meiyahima of Neptune whom the Dean had already taken an interest in, and some of the early grad doctoral students who had transferred to Athens on a scholarship bid.

Suddenly Marcus' dark eyes where stuck, locked into an exchange meeting green. The two men studied each other carefully as they passed and time seemed to slow down without Marcus bidding it to. Lightning almost seemed to crack behind that gaze, even with that cheerful smile and clearly Irish-like personality. Instantly, without needing to know him, Marcus knew him. Corsten Vaughn Fenlin, Udara's best friend and the red-head he always saw her with, or hanging out with the "old man".

But at that very second he wasn't simply Corsten.

_Jupiter...?_

Time returned to normal and the group walked past him without a word, continuing their laughter leaving Marcus to stand alone on the walk and gaze backwards. He forced himself to continue his trek home while his mind ran a million miles a minute. What a surprise! _  
_


	25. Chapter 25

**Twenty Five  
****In Round**

_8:00 pm-_

"I was starting to think you were going to cancel on me at the last minute, again."

"Hm?" Mercedes looked up from the menu in front of her and across the table at her dinner companion. There was nothing wrong with Halan. He was a few years older than her. He had actually graduated from Madres when she had been in her first year. He had already made himself a name in his family's business, rising to the top to control the franchises. While they weren't even in the running to be any serious competition for Della Robea Industries, the Villa Nova's did come from old money and did have influence over Venus's popular opinion. The merger of the Della Robea's and the Villa Nova's was an event long time in coming and the planet was looking forward to it eagerly and had been since the announcement had been made almost 20 years ago.

Halan was smiling at her that pleasant sort of smile that was meant to be polite despite his awkwardness. "This is the first dinner we've had together in almost 9 months," he told her. "I was starting to wonder if maybe you were avoiding me." It was meant to be a joke, but each of them knew the truth of the matter.

"I've been very busy, Halan," Mercedes went back to her menu. "As I'm sure you have been. Only being in town once every other month tends to make planning meetings more difficult."

"Yes," Halan agreed. "I'm hoping that will change. We should start spending more time together. After all, our wedding-"

Mercedes sighed heavily and closed her menu, "Do you suppose we can have dinner _without _talking about the wedding?"

"We're going to have to," Halan reached out to take the wine bottle that had been brought to them compliments of the restaurant's owner. "You graduate this year."

"As if I could forget," Mercedes waved off the concept casually, "What with everyone reminding me. Even Galen points it out almost daily." She eyed the young body guard that was seated alone a table away.

"Yes," Halan spared a glance towards the other man, then back at Mercedes. "How are you liking him?"

"He's not Jacques," Mercedes answered.

"Jacques was old," Halan said. "Galen is younger and better suited to protect you."

"Be that as it may," Mercedes replied, "Jacques _understood _things. I have to totally train this one."

Halan smiled at her, "Have you decided what it is you want?"

"Duck," Mercedes answered. She always ordered duck when she had the chance.

"Ahh, good choice," Halan nodded, "The duck here is superb..." he trailed off a little awkwardly. He placed his hands on the table and looked at her carefully. The silence on the table was heavy.

Mercedes frowned at him before reaching for her wine glass, "Fine. We'll speak of the damn wedding"

_8:15 pm-_

Seul and Char were walking the quiet streets back towards the university district. Char had not given up her battle at all not to be brought back to Marcus to study. She kept looking up at Seul with big round puppy dog eyes and a pouty quivering lip, "Its to the museum and everything," she was arguing now. "It doesn't _get _much more educational than a museum, does it, Seul-san?"

"That is true," Seul agreed wearily.

"I think Marcus would like very much for me to go," Char went on.

"We shouldn't disturb Mr. Dahl while he's working," Seul told her.

"Oh, it will be so quick, hardly a bother at all," Char said. "We go in, ask for him to be paged, hand him his book and then go see an exhibit or two. Just like that. No more than 10 minutes. I _really _wanna meet him, Seul-san. Don't you?"

Well, yes, actually she did.

"It's getting late," Seul said carefully. "Will Marcus worry?"

"I'll call him. Tell him I'm going to the museum with a friend. He'll be so surprised and grateful he won't even care that I'm skipping tonight!" Char beamed up at her, as though she could sense that Seul was mere moments of caving in. "C'mone, _pleeeaassse._"

"Well," Seul chewed her lip.

It was close enough to a yes for Charkari. She pulled her cellphone out of her bag and hit one of the speed dials. She waited for a moment before she practically squeed into the phone, "Hi, Marcus-san! It's Char, duh! Look, I've met a new friend and we're going to the museum tonight, so don't wait for me! Talk to you tomorrow, byeees!" and she quickly hit the end button and stuffed her phone back into her bag. She beamed up at Seul with bright blue eyes. "Let's go!"

_8:30 pm-_

Mami-Rin had her head stuck between her headphones with the music turned almost all the way up. She didn't hear when her eldest brother announced that he was home. This of course was her own folly. Ryonosuke didn't like coming home to an empty apartment. What he disliked more was to come home to an apartment and be ignored.

He followed the bath of light down the hall to the small closet sized room Mami-Rin had claimed as her own and found her on her bed with some sort of green facial mask thing plastered all over her face and a small washcloth over her eyes. He frowned a little. Even from where he was standing he could faintly hear her music. With an eye roll he crossed the room and plucked one of the ear buds out of her ears. "Where's your brother?"

Mami-Rin sat up a little and pulled the cloth from her eyes. She would have frowned at Ryonosuke, but the hardened mask wouldn't allow her. "Standing in my bedroom interrupting Mami Time like a baka," she told him.

"I meant your less cool brother," Ryonosuke told her.

Mami-Rin shrugged and tugged her ear bud back from Ryonosuke, "Dunno. I shooed him out of here about 45 minuets go to have coffee with Dean Dunia's daughter."

"What? Really?"

"Uh huh," Mami-Rin had settled back against her pillows and replaced the wash cloth over her eyes, "I'm going back to Mami Time, Niisama. Niisan left some dinner in the fridge for you if you're hungry." With that she put the earbud back in her ear and left the room once more.

Dinner, however, was the last thing on Ryonosuke's mind. As he left Mami's room and headed to the small living room/kitchen/dining room, he pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket. Corsten was going to love this.

_8:45 pm-_

Fortunately there was a trolley stop right in front of the Chennai Metropolitan Museum. The CMM was actually made up of the Art Museum and Restoration Institute, the History Museums, and the Museum of Science and Technology. It was like its own little university open to the public. After they got off the trolley, Seul and Char made their way up the large marble stairs towards the Museum's main entrance. It was after 8 on a weekday, admission was free.

"Did that old man say which museum Thomas worked in?" Char asked as she looked around. The main building housed many of the new and traveling exhibits. It looked as though the museum was in the process of getting a new traveling exhibit in. A few rooms had curtains drawn and ropes up with signs that said "Authorized Personal Only."

"No, unfortunately," Seul admitted. She had her arms folded over the book against her chest as she too looked around. They had no hope of finding Mr. Dahl on their own. They would need to have him paged after all. She tapped Char on the shoulder and had her follow her up to the Information Counter.

"Excuse me," Seul caught the attention of single woman seated behind the counter, "I'm sorry to bother you but we're looking for someone who works here. Can you have him paged for us?"

The other woman looked at her skeptically, "I suppose I could. What is his name, please?"

"Thomas Dahl," Seul answered.

"Oh, he's on security," the woman said, "I'm not sure if I can page him. But let me see if I can get in touch with the supervisor." And she left for a back office.

Seul took a breath, "They're going to try to find him..." She trailed when she noticed that she was now standing alone at the info counter. "Char-chan?" A frown pulled at Seul's mouth as she looked around, "Char-chan?"


	26. Chapter 26

**Twenty Six.  
****The Beginnings of an Interesting Night**

****"Oh-ho-ho reeeeeeeeally?" Corsten asked, stroking his goatee in deep thought whilst being informed of some very interesting information. Sega was looking at him strangely with a brow raised in suspicion, he knew it was Ryonosuke, Corsten had a separate ringtone on his phone for everyone, and the first twin was no exception to the rule. "See, I was trying to peel it out of her this morning with no avail. Growing gutsy our little Princess is, so boldly chasing him."

The dawning of realization lit up Sega's eyes, which made him lose interest in the mystery and return to his fries, the last of what was left of his fast-food dinner that Corsten had picked up on the way home from practice. Udara must have been out with Ruo, he saw that coming. Not literally in a vision, but it was pretty blatant enough at the party that she was interested in him. Didn't have to be psychic to see that coming. Damn shame, she was a fun girl, a wild and pretty girl, but still a good girl. It would fit she would fall for a soldier, disciplined and smart. Though Corsten tried for awhile at first to snag her for himself, he just wasn't her type. Ah well, he made a good "big brother" to her, broke her out of her shell a bit and helped her settle in to living a little outside the books. Mmm, fries were so bad and yet so good at the same time...

"Well, that's the way it goes, yeh? I mean, at least I won't ever have to break Ruo's fingers. Don't think there's a safer guy she could be with. Anyways, we're doing a fundraiser kegger for the team this weekend, you in?... Cover charge for all the booze ye can manage t' shove yer face in. Radik's finding a spit so we can grill shit and charge a few bucks for a plate... yes ye have to pay you fucking cheapskate! If it was just for the house I'd let it slide but it be for the team... Probably doing a pick-up game, flags for the ladies so they don't get their shit kicked in... I don't care who you bring 'long as they got cash... alright homes, later."

"You two be worse then a pair o' chicks," Sega commented licking salt from his fingers. "Ye 'no 'at." His voice went high suddenly, into a sharp falsetto, and his hand flopped at the wrist, "Oh. My. GAWD Corsten, like, they're totally out for each other! Soooooooo hawt."

Corsten shrugged and tossed his phone onto his bed trying to ignore how well Sega actually mimicked that kind of vapid teenager tone. "Well technically since he swings both ways he _can_ be kind of chick-ish and get away with it."

~~~~~*~~~~~

It was getting late, and Udara had already had two cups of coffee and was winding down with a cup of tea. She had forgotten all about dinner, which would catch up with her soon, but she didn't want to stop talking. All evening they had been at it, talking about home, growing up, favorite subjects, memories as kids...

"A kupabera."

Ruo rose his brows. "Seriously? What the hell is that even?"

Udara was laughing musically. "They're like hamsters, only the size of small dogs. They're so adorable! Very rare but I've heard they make wonderful pets, can be just as affectionate as a dog too. I wanted one so badly when I was little after seeing them on some program. I tried to talk maataa into it one time and, well, it did not go over very well. Maataa is a wonderful person, very patient, soft spoken and tolerant but… apparently when it comes to 'rodents' she is not as tolerant as she is with her students. I asked her what the difference was, she did not find that amusing. Father laughed, however…"

The soldier was shaking his head with a smile. "That would have to be one impressive hamster ball. I was thinking you would say like... dolphins or pandas, maybe even cats. I admit, I was not expecting that." A hand went to the girl's stomach quickly as her cheeks flushed. The noise that generated was a deep rumble that made even Ruo look questioningly at her. "Udara-sam... Udara, have you eaten?"

Cherry eyes looked down at the table more then embarrassed. "No... I kind of forgot. I was going to pick something up on the way home but then we ended up 'making plans' of a sort and well..." she looked up trying to laugh it off, "I'm not a very good cook. This isn't exactly a uncommon thing. I can grab a bagel at home or something. It's no big deal, really."

"You shouldn't do that," he semi-scolded. "You need to eat, especially with how busy you are! You're lucky you haven't become anemic or something from a complete lack of a diet like that!"

Lips twisted into a teasing smile. "And you're gonna come cook for me to make sure of that or something?" she asked just trying to be smart. It was a rhetorical question really.

But after a moment of consideration he nodded. "If that's what it takes, then yes. I will. I cook all the time for Ryo and Mami-Rin. It would not be anything out of the ordinary."

She blinked. "You cook?"

"What do you have in your cupboards?" he asked ignoring her awe.

"If I told you nothing would you take me seriously?"

Ruo shook his head with a small sigh. "Well let's go, we'll have to see if we can pick something up before market closes for the night."

"Wait... what?"

~~~~~*~~~~~

Char carefully picked her way over the velvet rope, tip-toeing so softly her black school shoes made barely a sound. A new exhibit huh? Not even a hint to what it was, that begged for the curious mind to come and check it out personally. Questions did not get answered without initiative one of her professors had said once. She kind of felt bad for slipping away leaving Seul at the counter, but she had the book and she looked like everything was under control. Besides, it was just a quick peek. As soon as she figured out what it was they were hiding she would slip back out and tell Seul she was simply looking for the bathroom.

The vid-poster announcing the front of the exhibit was covered in radiant stars, melting into a crescent moon and panning over a great while marble palace that shimmered in the cool light reflecting off a wide lake. At once Char knew exactly what the exhibit was and she felt her heart leap with excitement! She would have to tell Marcus, he would be so stoked to know this had come to town!

"Neo Crystal Tokyo and the Silver Millennium Empires" the high-tech optic poster read now. "History and Mythology of the Moon Rulers and Planetary Senshi. (Opening Dissertation Presented By Dr. Maso Dunia)".

"It's not a myth," Char hissed to herself in a whisper. "It's real! And when we find it we'll show you, academia!"


	27. Chapter 27

**Twenty Seven  
A Night At The Museum**

Udara was seated at the table watching Ruo make his way through her kitchen. It was practically the first time her stove had even been turned on, much less used seriously. He had chicken simmering in a pan and was cutting up carrots and broccoli to steam. Her apartment was beginning to take on quite a pleasant smell.

"You really don't have to do this, Ruo-kun," Udara called to him from where she sat. She feared to get to her feet lest she get in Ruo's way. And he certainly looked as though he was in his element as he cooked. He moved through her kitchen as though he had been cooking there his whole life.

"I don't mind," he called back to her with a grin over his shoulder. "Like I said, I cook for Ryo and Mami-Rin all the time."

"Mami-Rin?" Udara tilted her head a little, "That's your younger sister, right? I've heard Ryo-kun talk about her now and then."

"Yeah," Ruo answered as he turned his attention back to his knife work. "She came to Earth with us to study at the prep school." The end of the sentence sounded as though Ruo was going to say more, but nothing else came. He wasn't going to spoil this with any more talk about Neptune or its war. He knew Udara didn't like hearing of it and Ruo would just as soon not talk about it if he didn't have too. It kept unpleasant ideas out of his head and certainly out of his mouth.

A few more minutes passed before he brought a plate to Udara and set it on the table before her. "I hope you like it," he said, "its sesame chicken with steamed vegetables and rice." He took a seat across from her, "chicken isn't really my specialty, but I figured this was safe." He laughed, "especially since Indian really isn't my specialty."

Udara took a careful bite. Her eyes immediately shot up to the young man across from her, "Oh… Ruo Meiyahima. This is excellent!"

Ruo let out a breath he hadn't even been aware he had been holding. He knew he was a fair enough cook, neither his brother nor his sister would have tolerated him if he was not. However, hearing the praise come from Udara meant so much more.

"Oh, thank you, Ruo-kun!" Udara tried not to eat too quickly and savor the taste of the chicken, but she couldn't help it. Because it tasted so good, she just wanted to gobble it all up. She smiled up at him with a wink, "If word of this gets out, you'll be cooking for everyone. I know for certain the guys a Kappa House could use someone to cook for them."

"Heh," Ruo chuckled a bit nervously, "I'd rather not be responsible for feeding a bunch of rugby players."

"And I'm not keen on sharing either," Udara winked at him, "So this will have to be our little secret, yes? You come cook for me, and I'll make sure that Corsten never finds out."

It had been a night of surprises for Thomas Dahl. None of them had been pleasant either. It had started off by almost running down that young blond girl in the University District. She had literally appeared out of nowhere! The ensuing accident had caused him to tear a hole in his pant leg. He was either going to have to sew it up himself and hope that no one notices, or buy a new uniform, and he couldn't afford the latter. He'd been fortunate enough to be able to barrow a pair of pants from one of the guards coming off duty that night.

He was assigned the main building for the first half of his shift. His partner for the evening, Ricardo, had quickly disappeared shortly after the shift started. Thomas had a pretty good idea he'd taken one of the pretty tour guides into one of the galleries of the new exhibit. It certainly wouldn't be the first time Ricardo's libido won out over making boring rounds.

Thomas was content to let his partner get his rocks off. It wasn't as though it ever took long. However, when two hours passed and Ricardo didn't reappear to gloat and brag about his conquest, Thomas started to get annoyed. He tried calling Ricardo on the radio, using the special code Ricardo had come up with to warn if the supervisor was coming. When he got no reply, he decided it was time to go find his partner himself and "remind" him that they were supposed to be working.

The Chennai Metropolitan Museum had a plethora of places where a horny couple could go to in order to have a quickie. However, the best place, hands down was the Emeline Cua Steros Gallery. The gallery had been closed for months while the construction for Millennium Silver Kingdom Revisited, a traveling exhibit displaying the many supposed artifacts of the fabled kingdom of the same name. The exhibit itself was having its debut show on Earth under the watchful eye of Dr. Maso Dunia, Sol's foremost expert on Millennium Kingdom mythos. With the lights doused to save energy and the sounds of the busy museum still audible in certain areas, it was the perfect place for a sexytime thrill.

Thomas shoved aside the curtain and entered the gallery with a snort. Once he set foot into the gallery, though, his anger started to dissipate. It was strangely dark within. There were sets of dim lights recessed within the ceilings on for security purposes, but even those were off. So were the lights within the display cases.

All of his senses suddenly came on, as though attached to a thrown switch. The background noise from the main hall behind him died away to nothing as his ears instinctively turned themselves to the gallery he was in, tuning for even the slightest noise in the otherwise silent hall. In the mere seconds since he'd entered, his eyes had grown accustomed to the dark. Unlike most, Thomas had great low light vision. It was one of his many unique "traits". Still even with this asset, he could not see in the near total darkness the gallery was in. He unhitched his flashlight from his belt and clicked it on. His other hand rested on the DRI Pacifier 1M stun gun that was issued standard to all museum security. He didn't see anything as he panned it around the hall. It caught off of the clear exhibit cases and threw light around the room. Nothing appeared out of place.

"Ricardo?" He hissed into the darkness as his light was panned around, "Ricardo!" He knew that Ricardo wasn't apt to hear him if he was whispering, but he couldn't bring his voice up any higher. Something else was in the gallery that night. And as much as Thomas had hoped that Ricardo had killed the lights, he knew that was just wishful thinking on his part. The hair on his arms and the back of his neck started to rise. As he carefully made his way through the exhibit hall, his breath shallowed. Something that had spent a long time sleeping dormant within him started to stir. And he didn't like it.

Suddenly and fluidly as though something had caught his attention he swung his body and the light in one direction as though he had seen or heard something over there. The light caught off a mirror within the display case and shot back at him hitting him right in the face. Thomas stumbled back, throwing up one hand to shield his eyes. His left heel struck on something soft, yet solid and sent him toppling over backwards. His heavy flashlight went flying and rolling across the floor, flinging a narrow shaft of light this way and that until it finally came to a stop.

Thomas was still blinking away large purple spots in front of his eyes as he sat up and reached out to find what it was he had tripped over. His hands brushed against cloth that was extremely cold to the touch. To Thomas's surprise he found that there was a sheet of frost over the body shaped cloth. The purple spots faded and his eyes quickly adjusted to the dark. He sucked in a breath when he saw Ricardo's purple and blue face. Flecks of ice crystals clung to his eyelashes and eye brows. Thomas reached out carefully to touch his skin and found it just as cold as the rest of him. The man had been frozen solid.

Before Thomas could even get his mind around that his partner was now a giant ice cube, his head jerked upwards again. Something had cast a shadow across the light. Slowly, Thomas got to his feet. He was slowly making his way towards one of the larger cases against the far wall of the hall. With the light from his flashlight reflecting off of a case or shiny artifact, there was just enough light so that Thomas could make out an outline of a figure there. The outline looked human in that it had a head, two arms and two legs. The arms looked much too thin and fragile enough for a small child to be able to break in half. The legs looked just a little thicker, able to support a body, but just barely. Chills ran down Thomas's spine as that dormant part of him stirred even more. Sweating hands found his radio and brought the receiver to his lips. His voice was surprisingly steady for how badly he was shaking. "This is Dahl. I'm in the Cua Steros Gallery. Th-there's something here." He narrowed his eyes craning his head to attempt to get a better look. It looked as though the creature was attempting to open one of the cases, not realizing that there was no release switch on the case itself.

It should not be here. The corner of Thomas's left eye twitched. This creature was invading his place. His museum. Any person with a shred of reason would have run away right then, but Thomas wanted to tear it apart.

It was only for an instant before the radio squawked in his ear saving him from a monster Thomas refused to give into: "Dahl, elaborate."

Thomas hissed and clamped his hand over the receiver, but it was too late. The creature at the case had heard and had whirled around. Now Thomas could see a face that was lit up by an otherworldly blusih glow. Its only took Thomas a second to realize that it wasn't the glow that was blue, but the creature's skin. Its hair and eyebrows looked as though it was made of, all things, shaved ice and frost. A pair of large white orbs in eye sockets were trained right on him.

"Who are you?" Thomas demanded loudly. He quickly drew the DRI Pacifier from its holster and held it in a two handed stance as he had been trained. "Stay where you are and don't move!"

The creature, (Thomas could now see that whatever it was appeared to be naked, but didn't appear to have the necessary bits of anatomy that would distinguish it as male or female), did not stay where it was. Instead, it stepped to the left and reached out to place its hand with elongated fingers against the closest pillar. The moment its hand touched the marble, the pillar lit up and there was a harsh cracking noise. Thomas watched ice race upward the pillar towards the ceiling and down to the floor. It halted where the pillar met the ceiling, but rather than stopping at its base, it raced towards Thomas's feet. Thomas jumped away before the ice hit his feet. He rolled and came up on one knee, the Pacifier still drawn. "Hold it!" his voice echoed off the tall walls and vaulted ceiling.

But the Creature wasn't holding it. It turned quickly to follow Thomas's movement and slammed its hands against the ground, sending two more bolts of ice towards him along the floor.

"Dammit!" Thomas jumped again, and this time fired the Pacifier. The charges arced, cracking their blue electricity towards the icy intruder. All the intruder had to do was jerk one hand from the floor and hold it out in front of it. Instantly a wall of ice shot up from the ground to where the hand came to a stop. The charges hit the ice harmlessly and the Pacifier's discharge was nullified.

Thomas's eyes went wide. The radio at his shoulder was squawking again, "Dahl! Dahl, answer me! What's going on down there?"

Through the ice, Thomas could see the creature's mouth spread into a wicked sort of grin as it realized that the Pacifier was Thomas's best and only form of offense.

"Oh...fuck...


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28  
Introducing Mercury**  
A chipped, scratched blue orb sitting ever so carefully upon a white velvet pillow still glittered and shone under the display lights in its case. Big green eyes stared in wide-eyed wonder at the little symbol that was so flawlessly etched into the surface. A heart with a plus sign that stuck out at the bottom like a tail, and two little horn-like marks at the top of it overlapped a harp. Char stood at close as she dared to the glass without actually touching it, scared to death she would set off some sort of alarm. But oh how it called to her, how she wished she could even hold it once. By all rights it was hers after all!

"Mercury..." she whispered. The original, the first. The transformation orb of Princess Mizuno whom she had grown up on fairy tales of back at home. Princess Mizuno was like... like their Hera or Athena, their mythological goddess that they swore was real!

_"Who are you?"_

Char jumped a mile and looked all around her. A voice was shouting somewhere not too far from her and it sounded angry, maybe a little confused.

"Stay where you are and don't move!"

Obviously someone else was in the exhibit for a sneak peek besides her, only they didn't sound so harmless. Maybe it was someone trying to steal some of the artifacts? A thief? Why... that was a job for her! She was a heroine after all, right? Marcus-sama would agree, in the name of History!

Quickly little black shoes padded across the marble floor towards where the sound was coming from only to stop dead in her tracks. A man was on the floor looking up at a strange creature. Pools of ice and frost littered the floor and another man looked frozen solid off a ways... oh gods, was he dead? All at once her heart jumped into her throat watching the scene unfold... she wasn't ready for this. She had never fought anything before, just hit target dummies with Marcus in the hills.

"Get out of here!"

Char's thoughts broke and she snapped back to the present. The man on the floor was yelling at her. "But you..."

"Get out of here kid!"

_"Dhal? Dhal what the hell is going on?"_

Dhal? Hey, that's who she and Seul were looking for! Well now she really had to do something, she had to return his book to him! "Thomas Dhal? Oh! I found your sketchbook! I'll give it back to you right after this, ok? Just hold on." Now how did she... oh yes! When Marcus wasn't there to transform her for her it was much more difficult and tedious. He had it so easy as Pluto, waking people and instantly transforming them. Oh... speaking of Pluto...

'Mar... possibly getting ass kicked museaum, u might wanna check this out. Bad guy, transforming!'

"Ok then!" she cried again putting her phone back in her pocket. "You leave him alone!"

"Kid, come on!"

"Oh hush you!" From her back pocket she took out a blue compact and opened it up. This was no ordinary compant, it was what she chose to have Marcus tie her powers to. She was never without her compact, ever, and this one was special because her mother had bought it for her at a very expensive gift shop. Taking a deep breath she blew a cloud of shimmering powder into the air and snapped it shut. "Shimmer, glisten, chill and freeze. I command the icy touch of Mercury!"

The powder that hung in the air turned white and multiplied until a blizzard swirled around the body of the young girl. It took only a moment and a soft blue glow before standing in that very same spot was not the blong little teen, but a very serious blong teen in a sailor uniform.

A senshi uniform.

Just like the ones he saw on the exibit poster...

A kunai in each hand and tails of blue ribbons flowing from them she stood and faced the thing before her. "And in the name of Mecury I'm gonna kick your sorry ass!"

~~~~~*~~~~~

Udara looked up suddenly and out her kitchen window. Water ran over her hands into the sink and pink pools locked on some far away, unknown object.

"Are you ok?"

She looked over at red and blinked, almost unaware she had even zoned out. "Oh... I don't know. It was weird, like I got the chills or something."

Ruo took the plate from her and dried it. "Maybe you shouldn't eat so fast and then you won't feel so weird."

Udara laughed and flicked water at him. "I couldn't eat that fast enough! That was amazing, thank you so very much." She took the dried plate from him and put it away. "You don't have to help with dishes either you know."

He shrugged. "Force of habit."

The tea kettle whistled loudly, screaming for the scholar's attention. "Can I ask you for a favor, Ruo-kun?" she asked almost feeling guilty for it after the fantastic dinner he made for her. Lavender and chamomile had already been scooped into two infusers and set into two large mugs on the counter, the aroma exploded from them as soon as the hot water touched the mesh. "There is a new exibit at the museam opening Friday and Father is a guest speaker for it. I don't really want to go alone because I'll be there all night with him..."

"What's it about?" he asked pulling two spoons out from the silverware drawer. He had already sucessfully mapped out the kitchen.

"What else would keep father at a museum exibit for hours upon end? The Silver Millenium." She handed the mug off to him and leaned against the counter. "I feel so bad asking you to go, and I totally understand if you're not interested but... if one little detail is wrong father will be there for ever lecturing on the proper time-line and history! He is so embarrassing sometimes!" Ruo chuckled at her as he stirred his tea. "I would really apprectiate it... I'll make it up to you somehow!"


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29  
Cornered **  
_I'm dreaming..._Thomas's mouth had gone dry as the blond pigtailed girl in front of him had suddenly transformed into...into...well, Thomas wasn't really sure what she had changed in to. She _looked _like the paintings and interpertations of what the Courtiers of the Millennium Kingdom looked like. It wasn't dead on...but close enough for Thomas to make the connection. It was Thomas's hope that he had hit his head when he had tripped and this whole thing now was a dream.

The young girl seemed confident enough, but the icy intruder was not at all phased. It turned its attention from the white haired security guard to the pig tailed blond in the funny uniform. Again, a strange sort of smile pulled its mouth across its face. "Ahhh." It rasped in a voice that could only be described as chilly. It then pressed its strange hands down on the ground again.

Thomas knew what was going to happen next. "Look out!" he shouted to the blonde.

"Aiee!" The petite blond jumped out of the way quickly as the shock of ice raced towards her. The attacker manipulated the ice so that it followed after the girl as she continued to run through the gallery. It zigged when she did and zagged when she did. It even went around the display cases in the middle of the floor. "Eeeeee!" The ran past Thomas again, her blond pig tails trailing behind her.

As this was going on, Thomas was attempting to get the Pacifier to work again. He'd never heard of them malfunctioning before. Even if it didn't connect with its mark straight off the bat, it should have been ready to fire again instantly. The only problem was that Thomas couldn't get a fucking charge working.

_"Dahl, do you copy? Report in, Dahl!"_

Thomas reached up and yanked the radio off the shoulder of his shirt and tossed it aside. If it wasn't going to provide answers or help, then he had no use for it. The icy intruder it seemed was now going on the offensive. It summoned a wapon that looked as though it had been carved out of a glacier. It looked like a javilon with a sharp barbed spearhead. It easily launched the weapon at the girl. She gave a screech and narrowly jumped out of the way. The heel of her boot slipped on the slick surface of the floor and she fell hard on her backside, her legs splayed out in a very unflattering manner. She let out another yelp as the display case behind her showered shards of glass down over her. She covered her head with her arms.

"Haha!" The icy attacker cackled in a deep voice, much deeper than Thomas had anticipated given its lanky frame. "Mercury is nothing more than a little girl! How pathetic!" It skated its way over to the girl. Just as it was ontop of the girl it heard the pop and hiss of the DRI Pacifer. Caught by surprise, it did not have enough time now to raise an ice wall to sheild itself and took the charge directly into the arm. The screech that came forth echoed loudly off the walls.

"C'mone!" Thomas grabbed the girl called Mercury by her arm and pulled her to her feet. He started running with her in tow. He wasn't really sure where he was going to go, but he knew that he had to get the young girl to safety while he had the chance.

"Wait!" Mercury stumbled along with him, "I'm supposed to be protecting you."

Thomas pulled her through the maze of the exhibits in the gallery. Someone else had to be coming to help him by now. By not answering his radio, he'd given them enough reason to be alarmed in the command center. But, the only noise was the sound of Mercury's heels against the polished floor. Why hadn't any alarms gone off yet? Why was it so damn quiet?

By the time Thomas and Mercury reached the south side of the gallery, they'd reached the back end of the building. When he realized wher he was, Thomas was relieved. There was a fire exit around here somewhere and it didn't take Thomas long to find it. Opening the exit door would set off the fire alarms and bring up the lights. He could take the girl across the museum lawn to safety and then come back and help whatever back-up eventually came. He braced himself to shove his shoulder into the thick steel emergency door.

With all of his weight and the momentum of his run thrown behind him, he threw himself into the door, and then proceeded to bounce right off. He landed on the floor hard only to get back up and try again. He pushed with all his might, but the door wouldn't budge. He put his hands against the metal release bar and found it freezing. He reached out to touch the door jam and found it cold and slick.

"Frozen," he muttered, "figures." He stepped back from the door and tried to think of another way out. The only other way he could think of was the main entrance into the exhibit from the main building, and to get back to it meant having to go back the way they came. The ice creature was back there, and Thomas would rather not run into that _thing _again.

However, it didn't take long for the thing to find them. Not long after finding the door frozen shut, Thomas heard a now all too familiar cracking sound. He quicky grabbed Mercury by the hand and was moving again before the ice shot over their legs. The ice creature was right on their backs this time and Thomas could feel its chill run up his back as he ran. Sheets of ice raced over the floor and along the walls sending frosty shoots upwards from the floor and out of the walls in attempts to slow them down. A free standing glass case exploded with the sudden temperature drop and the explosion sent both Thomas and Mercury ducking for cover.

It only took Thomas a moment to catch his breath again. "Mercury?" He hissed into the darkness. He peered around for the girl on his hands and knees not daring to get up and reveal where he was.

"Mr. D-Dahl!"

He found the girl shivering hiding behind a different display case. She wasn't shivering out of fear, but cold. Her left leg had been frozen almost completely up to her knee. "I'm r-really sorry," she managed through chattering teeth. Tears were welling up large in her eyes, "its ju-just that th-this is my fi-first battle. I r-really a-am supposed t-to protect y-you."

"Shhh," he put a finger to his lips, "just be quiet, ok? I'll get us out of here." He had no idea how he was going to do this. He wasn't even sure what part of the gallery they were in now. Adrenalin was coursing hard through his blood. He could feel it pounding in his head. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His heart beat slowed again. His left eye twitched again. He was trying very hard to keep in control of that other side, and finding it increasingly difficult.

"H-how?" Mercury was silenced when Thomas put a hand over her mouth. His eyes, even with his ability to see in low light, were useless to him, so he gave up relaying on them. Instead he focused his attention on what he could hear. He couldn't hear the noises from the museum's main lobby, so they were still deep within the gallery. The hair on his arms prickled and the skin on his back started to crawl. The enemy was closing in. He peered around the base of the exhibit case. He could hear their enemy coming. The sound of its skate like feet over the ice confirmed this.

"Come out, come out, Little Mercury," The creature was calling. "Are we playing hide and seek now? Is that it?"

Thomas could feel the girl shivering against him. He couldn't get her out of there. With her leg frozen as it was attempting to carry her would just have made them both targets. He could feel the hot sting of her tears against his fingers still clamped to her cheeks to keep her quiet. The corner of his left eye continued to twitch.

"I'm going to find you, Mercury!" The creature shouted. It couldn't believe the luck. It had infultrated the museum and had used that stupid horney guard to gain access to the exhibit. It was searching for clues to the whereabouts Rex Archana, if not the sword itself. Imagine the surprise surprise when Mercury of all people had suddenly appeared! And imagine the glee to find that she was just a young girl who couldn't even adequately defend herself! Having the opportunity to kill the senshi would bring the Ice Spector much fame and respect among Novarin's forces. It could even earn praise from the Dark Senshi herself and become one of her generals. The idea was intoxicating and made its chest swell with pride. It also made the search for the elusive little brat all the more urgent.

The Ice Spector was somewhat taken aback to see the human suddenly stand up. Taken aback but not intimidated. Not even with the fierce look he had now. He was different now than he had been before. He wasn't running scared. But it didn't mater to the Ice Spector. He would be easy enough to get rid of, just as his partner had been.

Or so it he thought.

The white haired man lunged for the broken case and grabbed up the first thing his hand closed around. Then without pausing even for a second to see what weapon he had chosen, he was attacking with all the force of a train.

The Ice Spector threw up an ice shield, but the security guard barreled right through it using the end of the pole of his newly acquired weapon to do so. He came at the creature next, spinning his polearm so that he would be using the blade against it. The creature hadn't expected to have to summon it's javelin again. The blade of which was made of the thickest ice sharpened to split a hair. but all it could do was use the steardy pole just to block the attack from the human male. The human knew what he was doing and the Ice Spector was surprised. Chips of ice flew back in its face. There was no way a human would abel to beat the creature's superior skill. It had been designed to be stronger, faster and more skilled. . Humans were supposed to run scared from them! But here was this human male proving to be more than a challenge The Ice Spector let out a rageful shriek at him and with its long icey fingers tried to grab for his throat.

Skillfully, as though he'd been fighting monsters his whole life, Thomas ducked under its icey grip and turned the handle of the scythe again using the end to strike the creature in the abdomen. It folded up like a piece of flimsy paper. Then Thomas brought the pole up to connect with the creature's face and send it flying backwards, long arms and legs flailing.

Mercury watched from where she was, peering around the base of the exhibit she had sought refuge behind. Her eyes were as large as saucers.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30  
Surprise Help**  
Thomas raised the scythe again in a motion to bring it down hard and fast across his face, slashing at the _thing_ before him when suddenly he felt the suffocating feel of air around him. It became as if he were swimming as he stood, fighting a cloudy, stuffy surrounding he couldn't explain...

"Soft Epoch..._Stop!_"

...and then everything came screeching to a halt.

A man stood before him, a dark man with dark hair. He was tall, and in the dim light he could see a great silver scarf-like cloth wrapped around his neck, tails trailing behind him caught in some unfelt wind dyed a deep ruby red that almost melted into the silver. In his right hand he held upright a great silver staff with metal structures jutting out of the main pole making it look like a large key. And at the top a circle with a ruby orb twice as big as his fist shone with an unearthly light, casting the glow all around the room. Thomas looked at him in awe... another one? A man?

"Pluto-sama!" he heard Mercury cry in relief with a sob in her voice.

Pluto looked down at the scythe in Thomas' hand and nodded, how curious. "Stay here, Mars."

"I'm sorry?" Did he say that aloud? He could hardly move his body much less speak, but he said that aloud, right? Oh this damned stiffling feeling... why wouldn't it just let him go? he need to break free of it, now! The rage in the pit of his stomach would not be quelled until he let it out and if he didn't, and soon, it would burst him! Damn it Pluto, stop this!

Pluto ran over to Mercury and knelt down beside her. "Char... for the love of the moon..."

"You're gonna get in trouble for freezing time, Marcus-sama," Char whimpered clutching her leg just above the crystal cast of ice. It hurt, it hurt so bad. It froze and burned at the same time and she couldn't move anything. The skin felt like it was going to shatter or melt off the bone and the pain was shooting up into her hips. Hot tears poured freely down her face but she tried so hard not to scream. "Marcus... it hurts! Get it off! Please get it off!"

"I didn't freeze time, I slowed it to a grinding crawl. Loop holes, Mercury, learn them." Pluto's heart broke, if they didn't do somehting soon she would possibly lose her leg! They needed strong healing, a regular hospital and doctor wasn't going to be able to fix this. Not to meantion the questions they would run in to. Showing up with a little girl, her leg in a block of ice up to her thigh was beyond strange, especially when a man 10 years her senior brings her in with no relation to her. "We need to get you to Earth."

"She isn't awake yet!" Mercury argued. "What if she can't help?"

"It'll be fine, she'll know what to do." He said nothing more, they had no other choice at all and he wasn't about to tell her that... that she might lose her leg if Earth couldn't help them. "Stay here while we take care of this." She nodded and watched him run back over to the man named Thomas. "Ooohhh..." she whispered in wonder as he lifted a finger to Thomas' forehead, just like he had done with her.

"Help me Mars," he asked of the stranger who was still stuck in mid swing but looked straight at him. That finger touched his forehead and left a searing red mark... a circle with an arrow jutting out of it. The symbol of Mars.

When Marcus stepped back he brought the great staff-key before his face and took a breath. The light was blown out like a candle, and at that instant Thomas was able to move again, the scythe coming down just as he wanted sending the ice-thing reeling back, sliding across the marble floor. That same instant red exploded around him, like the glow the girl had shone just before she transformed into her little outfit.

Thomas looked up to Pluto to ask what the shit he was supposed to do, but the man was in mid swing. Almost like he held the thing like a baseball bat, the orb at the top was building a great black-ish ball of energy, and when Pluto swung it through the ball released, sent flying towards the creature on the floor. "Azrael's Barrage!"

The black ball formed into two swirling missiles, one black one red, that danced around each other till it crashed into the target. Now that it was completely incompassitated it needed to be finished, and Pluto looked to the still glowing Thomas gripping the scythe tightly in his hand. "Well?" Pluto asked as if he were waiting for an invitation. "Just let go, Mars, and it will take care of itself."

Char whimpered, she didn't think letting go was such a good idea. She had seen his eyes... there was something in there that said it was definately a bad idea less he wanted the exhibit covered in pieces and parts! But without Moon and her scepter to dissolve the evil within their opponant they had little choice but to let Mars free... Another piercing pain shot up her leg, catching her by surpise and forcing a cry out of her that echoed. "Please hurry!" she sobbed now.

She cursed herself, she had really screwed up. Like _really_ bad. Now she needed to be healed, and in order for that to happen they needed to wake Earth. Marcus -could- technically do it but that would require him reversing time and that would break one of his major taboos, which would cause him punishment by death by Fate's Decree. Marcus-sama had said he didn't want to wake earth yet because he wasn't sure if she was reay, but now they would have no choice but to wind up on her doorstep, a leg covered in ice, begging her help when she had no idea what even to do! With a gloved hand she wiped her eyes and sniffed, Marcus was going to be so mad at her. She thought she could do this, she didn't want to wait and have Thomas hurt! What a lame senshi she was turning out to be!

Now she really was crying.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31  
Enter Mars, The Berserker**  
_You must always remain in control, Thomas. No matter how angry you want to be. No matter how far into a corner your back is pressed. You must _always _remain in control. _

"Just let go, Mars," this man had said, "and it will take care of itself."

Thomas was shaking hard now just trying to keep his rage in check. Sweat had broken out over his forehead and it rolled down the sides of his face. His white hair was sticking to his forehead around the seared symbol of Mars.

_You must always remain in control, Thomas. If you should ever loose that control and let your true nature take over, the results would be catastrophic. _

"Please hurry!" Mercury was sobbing. He could hear her tears as though she was standing right next to him. Every muscle in his lower abdomen was clenched and he could taste bile in the back of his mouth. His hands tightened around the pole of the scythe.

_Your heart would never be able to take that kind of guilt. Promise me, Thomas. Promise me that you will stay in control. _

Phillip could never have known that this was the sort of fate that had awaited his ward on Earth. Thomas's eyes narrowed at the ice maiden who was on her hands and knees in front of him. Crystal blue blood was running from the corner of her mouth. Her hands were on the ground and her fingers twitched. Thomas heard that sickening crack for the last time.

He finally let go and gave in to what was brewing inside him.

Pluto hadn't been sure if Mars had been ready. The way he had been standing there as though froze, shaking hard and sweating even harder. And then the young man's body stopped shaking. The muscles that had been clenched to the point of spasms suddenly relaxed. Pluto felt his heart suddenly slow when he saw the pupils of Mars's eyes suddenly become quite small. He made no noise save for the sound that his scythe made as it sliced through the air. The blade opened up a line of gore in the creature's chest and Pluto winced back. He hoped that Mercury wasn't watching this.

The Ice Spector wasn't finished yet. Even with its innards threatening to spill onto the floor it reached up to grasp hold of Mars's scythe, gripping it by the blade. Blue blood dripped to the ground as it sliced through the creature's palm, but it did not let go. With the last bit of power it was able to muster, it jammed the blade of its broken javalin towards the new Senshi, burring it as far as possible into his thigh.

Mars's scythe sliced through her neck easily and cleanly as though it took no effort at all. The head slid off the stump of the neck and fell to the ground with a thump. The body slumped to the side in a heap. It seemed like eons, but it really was only half a second before it exploded into a thousand snowflakes that blew through the gallery like a blizzard and then disappeared. It was shortly after that the ice started to melt leaving puddles of water everywhere.

"Mercury!" Pluto hurried back to the case his companion was huddled behind. Just as he thought, the ice that encased her leg had also melted. Her skin above her boot was pink and cold to the touch, but she could move her legs.

"Marcus!" Char cried and flung her arms around his neck and hung on for all she was worth sobbing into his shoulder. "Imsoooosoorrrryyy," she bawled. "Ijustwan-wantedt-to heeeellpp."

"Shhh, shhh," he told her gently. Carefully he got his arms under her and stood up with her in his arms. He turned to find Mars standing where he had stopped after the follow-through of his attack. He hadn't moved and didn't look as though he was about to again.

"Mars!

Slowly the white haired young man turned to look over his shoulder. Those dead glazed looking eyes settled on Pluto and the older Senshi felt his stomach drop. The Ice Spector had been mistaken when it had thought Thomas had been a mere human. As impossible as it seemed, Pluto thought he knew just _what _Mars really was. He swallowed hard and forced air through his throat to speak, "come with me." To Marcus's relief he received one nod from the other man.

With Mercury still clutched tightly in Pluto's arms, the three of them slipped through the darkness just as Thomas's back-up finally arrived.


End file.
